Hyper Dimension Daily Lives
by Str1k3N01r
Summary: A series of one shots recording the goddesses' daily lives in Hyperdimension Gamindustri. Takes place after their adventures in mk2. Might be extended to include one shots of the V Goddesses if the response is good. Rated T just in case.
1. Vert - Goddesses' Lament

**Too lazy to write a full disclaimer. All OCs belong to me. everything else belongs to Idea Factory and Compile Heart.**

******Str1k3N01r here. my new works are meant to be the novelized version of my friends' fanmade comics about what the goddesses do in their daily lives after they take down Arfoire. While I apologize that they won't be selling their books overseas, at least you can read it for free. if you have a very good imagination, that's even better.**

**This chapter will focus on Vert, since there are not much works focusing on her in yet.**

* * *

**Goddesses' Lament**

**[Leanbox – Basilicom]**

I stretched as I finished the last of the paperwork that was due by the end of this week. In fact, this is the first time I am pumped up to actually clear my work ahead of time, so nobody will have any reason to interrupt me. Well, Leanne and Chika didn't know that a new MMO is being released this weekend and I can't wait to enjoy it without anyone to take off my headset in the middle of gaming. They won't have any reason to do that if most of my work is done.

I had pre-ordered the game when it was announced back quite a while ago and it would be one of the new VR MMO that makes you think you are the in game character instead of you playing the game in front of your computer from third person. Due to it being a new technology from Planeptune, the game was still in its testing stages. The level cap had been decreased from the normal one hundred to just sixty. Still, a Virtual Reality MMO would allow the player to play as if they are their online character. That should at least attract a wider group of people.

Weekend arrived and Leanne brought the parcel into my room before bidding me to enjoy the game and leaving my room. Unlike the other goddesses, who have biological sisters, Leanne is my adopted sister. She was found abandoned outside the basilicom not so long after I took over Leanbox. I took the baby in because I felt pity towards her and I named her Leanne, after the first four letters of my nation, Leanbox. Looking back, I am glad that the weak and fearful little girl from back then grew to become a very accomplished top idol. Lastation had been sending requests for her to perform a concert there.

I opened the parcel before installing the game and setting up the helmet that will aid in transmitting the player's brainwaves so that they can control their in-game avatar like the way they control their own body. I wonder how they are going to show the in game menu if we're controlling our characters using our brainwaves. I'm sure the book would say something about it.

I found the beginner's guide and read on the section of in game menu. Apparently, opening the menu requires one to put one's right index finger and thumb together, then pulling downwards. If done correctly, a ringing sound would be heard and a shining purple rectangle appears with the menu options. As I read through the basic instruction, the game installation continued until it is completely updated and the theme song plays.

Immediately, I equipped the helmet and closed my eyes before starting the game. I found myself in a white void with the normal login menu. After I inserted my ID and password using the on-screen keyboard, I was taken to the character creation screen and was asked if I wanted to start over or import my avatar from the other game. After all, they were made by the same company. Still, where's the fun in importing when what you wanted to enjoy so much was to start from the beginning and meet your fellow beginners.

The game immediately assigned me to a default avatar, which they made to be similar to myself in terms of measurements and height. I know people don't know me much compared to my appearance as Green Heart, still, I decided to change the numbers around a little and use a different hairstyle. I have always wondered how it feels to have a petite, modest body like Blanc, so I took the liberty of designing my online avatar to look like her, except that I kept my blonde hair, although I changed my eye colour to green. The last step would be to enter my character name. What can I use this time? Maybe… yes. I'll use the little pet name that Chika and I used to call Leanne when she was young, Himeko. The system accepts the name and with that, the character creation process was over. It was time to start the game proper.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – City of Departure]**

It seems that before choosing one of the four celestials to obtain special abilities from, the players of Four Celestials Online VR started in this neutral area called 'The Sanctuary'. I was wondering why the celestial selection wasn't there in the menu, but it turns out that they are only explored in a quest line. Before players leave the Sanctuary, they will be given the option of which of the four celestials they want to receive blessings from.

After accepting a quest from the NPC, I start walking around to ensure that my mind will get used to control this new 'body' and I open the menu to equip the pike and shield that was delivered to my in game mailbox because I'm a returning player. Granted, it isn't exactly a very good piece of equipment, but for a level one character, it is much better than anything that I have in my equipment slot right now. With that done, I went to the nearby practise dummies to get used to the controls of the MMO.

The game has two different kinds of spear weapons, so I opt for a pike instead of a lance. Using a pike allows me to equip a shield in my off hand slot, allowing me to block opponent's attacks. However, there is a disadvantage of spear based weapon. Due to the fact that they were not build for parrying, their durability drops rather fast if used to do so, so I would have to depend on my own reflexes for dodging and blocking. While training on the practise dummy, I check the in game help to find out that physical skills are executed by just getting into the stance alone. However, spear type weapons have little to no slashing attacks, while focusing more on thrusting and piercing.

My character class is a 'Spellblade', which allows me to use heavy equipment and deal magic attacks at the same time. Contrary to warriors and mages, however, I don't have access to their higher end, powerful abilities. Well, I suppose I can take up the cooking secondary skill and alchemy profession to make some potions and food to ensure that I will not get killed by monsters. Food created by cooking skill can give the players some buffs, contrary to food that is purchased from NPCs.

A flash of light from behind me indicates that someone just logged on. I turn around and see a pale skinned girl with maroon eyes and purple hair, which is held in a single ponytail. She seemed excited as she looked around the area, saying that this game exceeded her expectations. It always make me smile to see that a fellow gamer is enjoying the experience, but it isn't long before she starts becoming very afraid for some reason and started to tap things in the air. I am killing monsters nearby to fulfil my quest requirements, so when I see her getting nervous and panicky, I hurry and use some special attacks to kill the last monster quickly before I walk up to her.

"Is there something wrong?" I greet her, causing her to go 'Eeep!' and turns around to face me.

"N-no… there is nothing wrong… much. I'm just having difficulty trying to open the menu," she replies. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do to make it appear. This is a lot different that console RPGs."

A complete beginner huh? I guess I can lend her a hand. Everyone has to start from somewhere. Even I was once a beginner myself. Her appearance reminds me of one of the characters from the game that I play at Blanc's place. I instruct her on how to open her in game menu by guiding her right hand. After that, I explain to her what the menus are for.

"Going from top to bottom, the topmost one handles all of your items, from equipment to consumables," I explained while still guiding her hand to press the menus in order to make the sub-menus appear. "Your equipments, healing items and food will be stored under this category."

"Second from the top is the Friends option. You can use this to check where the characters registered as your friends are if they're online and use the button here to ask them to party up even if you're far away," I continued. "Third is the Guild option. There are not many guilds now so it is of limited use. Still, this tab will allow you to see which guilds are recruiting members to tackle end game contents. If you are in a guild, you can see your guild members' activities from the same tab."

The girl nods for each explanation I made. I continue to explain through the remaining four menus, 'Messaging', 'Area Map', 'Quest Log' and 'Options'. When I opened the Options menu, she seems relieved when she sees the logout button. I guessed that she was panicking because she doesn't know how to log out from the game, given that you cannot remove the helmet unless someone else does it for you.

"Noted, thanks for the head's up!" she smiles. It always feels good to bring a smile to new players such as her. "See you! Thanks again!"

There she goes. I'm sure she can handle it on her own from here. Although, I can't help but to feel a bit worried of what that might happen. Still… something tells me that I'll be seeing her again soon enough. After all, players will stay in this town until level five. Six if a player does not avoid any of the unnecessary mobs by sneaking past them. I've lost some time that I can otherwise use for levelling, but at the very least I made a friend. Oh right… I forgot to add her to my friend list.

Levelling takes quite some time even under the quest system. I suppose that is a good point of this game though. It will be pointless to reach level sixty too fast and end up bored because this game doesn't have much end game content yet as of now. After all, it was still in its testing stages.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Road to Alicanyte City]**

A few hours passed, and soon enough I am level six, high enough to leave the City of Departure and head to the next town. The City's mayor gave me a quest to head over to the next town and report to the marshal there. It is while travelling towards the second town that I encountered a familiar face. It was her, the player that was very nervous just now. It seems that she is getting used to her controls, but not so much. She's engaging the quest target in the fields, but she is not using any of her skill points to launch special attacks. After she kills the target and sits down to eat, I approach and sit next to her.

"I'm running out of food and healing items… spending money on them will prevent me from saving up enough money for other, more important stuff like better armour and weapons. What to do, what to do?" she says before she sighs.

"We meet again," I greet, causing her to be startled a little and looked at me before she calms down.

"Oh, it's just you," she smiles brightly.

"I see that you're not using any of your special attacks," I continue. "Why?"

"Special attacks?"

Oh dear. It seems that my assumption is correct. I think she never read the in game help page at all. She must have rushed to play this game if she didn't read the instruction manual provided in the box and the in game help on the basics. I explain her about it by pulling and attacking another monster nearby, after which I show her just what kind of special attacks or any other actions that cost skill points to utilize.

"So, the program helps with the execution of the ability, but we have to start it by going into the correct stance and thinking about it first?" she asks after I land the killing blow on the monster.

"Indeed. By the way, what character class are you?" I ask back.

"Well… I'm a warrior type," she replies. "Chanting out my spells is just not my style."

"I see," I remark. "By the way, the program doesn't help you with your defence. That is up to your reactions and your skill with your shield."

"Oh," she realizes that and smiles sheepishly. "I thought…"

"It's okay. People have to start from somewhere," I reply. "Everyone makes mistakes, you know. This is a virtual reality game, so you have to really rely on your own reflexes to survive."

She stands there, thinking for a moment before she asks if we can spar. Agreeing, I issued an in-game challenge to her for a duel, in which the first to inflict a blow on the other party is the winner. It's just a hit, so my newly acquired healing spell will suffice to mend the wounds. We fight on the road instead of the open fields because we might accidentally enter a monster's aggro range if we're in the fields. The monsters are programmed to stay as far away from the roads as possible, though. The duel ends in one minute, after I land on her side, so I cast a healing spell on her to undo the damage I just did to her.

"Not bad, not many people lasted more than just thirty seconds," I remark. "I was going all out too, you know."

"Wait… you were going all out?" she asks.

"Yes. It would be rude to not go all out under any condition," I smile. "What's your name?"

"My name? It's N-no! Tsubaki!"

"Notsubaki?"

"Tsubaki."

"Nice to meet you, Tsubaki," I bow. "I'm Himeko."

I add her to the list of friends as she does the same. That way, she can just send me a private message whenever she needs my help on something. She shyly asks for a party invitation so that we can clear the quest along the road to the next town faster. For a beginner, she learns very quickly after she listens to an explanation. With the quests done faster than I had expected, we quickly returned to the road and follow it to the next town. There are other fellow adventurers along the way that are either doing quests, mingling or simply just relaxing. No one is in a hurry to clear the game, I suppose.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Alicanyte City]**

The sun is setting as Tsubaki and I reach Alicanyte City. Tsubaki left the party to do her own exploration so I also decide to explore the city on my own. I wish I can call this a major city, but it isn't exactly very big. The sanctuary has no capital city to speak of, although this city is already large because of how it is located right in the middle of the island. While within the city, a player's ability to initiate duels is disabled and everyone is expected to not go violent on each other.

Maybe I should log off now. It's approaching dinner time and it is Leanne's turn to cook after all. Hmm… I wonder if Tsubaki will do fine without my help. I can't help but worry because she doesn't seem to have a lot of experience playing MMOs like this. I suppose I can find an inn to log off so that when I resume later, I'll gain some experience boost even for a short while. After I found the inn, the innkeeper gave me a runestone that will help me cast a spell to return to the inn in a flash.

First things first, though. I'll have to find the NPC that can teach me alchemy and cooking. Thankfully the interface shows what time it is in Leanbox, which allows me to know that I need to hurry. After a fruitless search on my own, I decided to ask the guards if they can give me directions to the trainers. They didn't give me exact direction per se, but the very least, they marked the trainer's location on my map. Looks like the creators of this game didn't want it to be too easy.

After spending ten minutes, I finally located the Alchemy trainer on the other side of the city. After I paid the trainer for the skill, I decide to use the runestone to return to the inn because I think Leanne will have dinner ready for now and no doubt she has been calling out to me. I pressed the logout option and exit the game before I take off my helmet and head towards the dining room. I return to the game after I finish eating and resume my search for the cooking trainer in one of the buildings.

Having learned the two skills, I set out to find the marshal to report and accept the continuation of the storyline quests. With the quests accepted, I return to the inn and use the nearby stove to cook food. My skill level is rather low, so making food like sandwiches, cookies and sliced fruits will have to do. At least, it will give me some food to survive while questing in the fields. After that, I brew some basic health and sp potions for in combat emergencies. With all preparations done, I set out to Alicanyte Fields, the area that surrounds the city, to hunt.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Eastern Alicanyte Fields]**

The second area isn't as easy as the first due to the fact that aggressive monsters roam among the non-aggressive ones. Some of the mobs are even linked with each other, which means pulling one might net you one or two other mobs that happen to be nearby. I have to be careful and use my skill to pull the mobs from maximum range, allowing me to safely pull the targets without worrying too much if I will pull extras. Some players have started questing in groups of five to ensure that none of them dies and get slapped by the durability penalty.

Dying in game is alright, but weapons and equipment are rather expensive when it comes to repair bills. I would rather avoid dying too if it is possible, but Tsubaki is currently offline and I don't know her email either. It's okay, though. My online game character is always a tanking type. I will not die so easily to these kinds of mob attacks, especially when this game utilizes your own instincts and reactions. Not to mention, I have experience when it comes to adventures like this, given that I fight monsters on a regular basis outside of games.

I continued grinding until midnight before I logged off. Leanne should be here soon and the last thing she needs is to see her elder sister up all night playing games and making her worry. I logged off and minutes later Leanne dropped in to say goodnight before she left. Well, if she wants me to sleep early, I'll just have to… wait a minute. I forgot that this is a VR MMO. While I'm playing the game, my body sleeps. Why didn't I think of that? All I need to do now is to ensure that I log off and wake up at the right time so that Chika and Leanne won't suspect that I'm continuously gaming! I quickly put my helmet on again and after getting in a nice position on the bed, I log in to the game and to continue grinding and questing.

**(four levels later)**

I manage to avoid getting caught by Leanne and Chika and am now level 10. A week has passed and I rarely see Tsubaki logging in. Sometimes she appears rather often, but sometimes she just doesn't even log in. Well, I guess I can't expect everyone to be devoting a lot of time to a game like I do. What does surprise me is the fact that she's rapidly catching up to me even though I've been playing for the whole week. I guess the rest bonus from logging off in an inn is quite significant when a few days have passed.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Alicanyte City]**

I finally encounter Tsubaki again in the inn. When I see her, I am seriously shocked at her condition. Her sword and shield is badly damaged and her armour is almost beyond repair. What could have done this to her? I suppose I'm still her friend, I'll go over and ask. She's crying quietly, so I rent a room in the inn before taking her towards the private room. The moment the door is closed, no sound is going to escape the room unless the windows are opened widely.

"Now, can you tell me what happened, Tsubaki?" I ask Tsubaki, who is still sobbing while sitting on the bed.

To make the long story short, Tsubaki tells me about what had happened. She was out hunting a while back and there are a few players who were kiting a powerful monster and whittling down its hit points down as they lead it back to town. Tsubaki happened to be there killing monsters to clear quests but since she is directly in the monster's path, its attack killed her in one hit, reducing her overall equipment durability by ten percent.

A few days after that, she received a quest to kill an elite monster, but so far not only has it been eluding Tsubaki, the two times she met it, she had a difficult fight. She almost won the monster, but during the first time, it scored a lucky critical hit when Tsubaki's guard was down, causing her to die and respawn in the city once again. During the second time, Tsubaki's shield broke during the most critical moment and she once again killed.

With her armour broken and her money spent on food and healing items, she is unable to continue enjoying her game. It's no wonder she's frustrated and sad. I pat her back for a while and accidentally slip into my 'elder sister' mode, causing her to realize that I'm not just any small kid playing an online game. Tsubaki smiles a little and thanks me for being a good friend. She is about to go out and continue questing with her remaining equipments at less than 25 percent durability, but I stop her and tell her to follow me.

"Where are we going, Himeko?" she asks as she follows me through town slowly.

"Right… I almost forgot about it," I reply. "What professions are you taking? Actually, did you even take any profession?"

"Profession?" she asks again.

"You don't know? You can learn one profession and one secondary skill," I explain. Sometimes I wonder just how she managed to survive thus far without knowing much. "Since you're a warrior class, I will suggest picking up blacksmithing and first aid."

Tsubaki opens the menu and begin inspecting the items in her inventory to sell to a nearby merchant NPC so that she has enough money to pick up the profession and the secondary skill. I advised her to sell the grey named items she has acquired by killing monsters up till this point. That allows her to recover her losses, the very least. Her equipment is still badly damaged and the male players are staring at her. It's only natural that she feels uncomfortable. Afterwards, I help her to locate the blacksmith and the first aid trainer.

After learning her blacksmithing skill, I instruct Tsubaki how to open her professions tab under the main menu. The tab is added between the 'Items' and 'Friends' option when a profession is learned. From this new blacksmithing window, Tsubaki will be able to perform field repairs on equipment. It will not be as effective as an NPC smith's ability for now, but it will have to do, given that Tsubaki has no money, but enough materials to perform a field repair on all of her equipments.

Our next stop is the first aid trainer. Contrary to most other online games I've played so far, this game's first aid isn't an active skill per se. Instead, it turns some cloth into proper bandages which can be used to heal rapidly as long as you're not hit by anyone while you're healing. Tsubaki quickly converted the cloth that she possessed in her inventory into bandages. Now that the two of us are prepared for the undertaking, we leave town to find the boss that has been giving her problems. After all, it is my target too. Teaming up is going to allow us to take it down safer than trying to go solo.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Western Alicanyte Fields]**

As we head to the western part of the fields surrounding the city, Tsubaki opens her map to show me the coordinates of where she finds the monster. After two hours of camping at the two spots of where it spawns, we finally locate where it is. Before we engage it in battle, I give some of the food and potions I made earlier on to Tsubaki. After that is done, we charge at the monster. Since Tsubaki cannot cast spells, she will engage the monster first. I will keep Tsubaki's health up as she attacks the elite on her own.

By the time our SP is low, we whittled the elite down to its final stretch of HP. I am unable to heal Tsubaki as often so we switch roles for a bit while Tsubaki tries to bandage herself back to full. The two of us are, after all, using shields. Unlike most others who require a full party to take this elite monster down, all we need is to plan our moves and our role switches properly in order to ensure that the monster didn't do anything besides damaging our equipments. After Tsubaki finished bandaging her wounds, she rushes back into the fray.

The monster is finally down and we received bonus experience, gold and items for taking it down in a group of two. Tsubaki quickly wears her new black cape, a rare item that drops off the monster. I already have a short cape equipped, so it is no problem for me. She seems very happy and seeing her happy makes me happy too.

Applause alerts us that we're not the only few in the area. Apparently other players have gathered around us while we're fighting the elite monster without actually kiting it back to town to be killed by the guards and they're clapping. No one else has successfully done what we just did, and we even attract the attention of the game masters as well. Both of us receive a mail from them, congratulating us for using clever tactics as opposed to the kiting that other players did thus far.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Alicanyte City]**

We use our runestone to return to the inn and then we walk upstairs to our shared room. After resting for a while, Tsubaki leaves the inn to head towards the blacksmith shop saying that she wants to create some equipment for herself. Since I have nothing better to do and I'm still a few hours away from having to log off and assure the two that I'm not gaming full time, I accompany her there instead.

There are other blacksmiths besides Tsubaki there, levelling their skill in their craft. Fortunately for Tsubaki, since she rarely sells items that are of common rarity and above, she is able to disassemble equipments that she will not wear in order to gain more materials. When making uncommon rarity armour and weapons, there is a low chance that smiths will make a piece of equipment that is rare. Since rare equipments are obviously better than uncommon equipments, Tsubaki can sell them for a high price or disassemble them once again to gain more powerful materials.

After using up all the materials available for the current level, Tsubaki disassembles her damaged equipments after she wears the new ones she crafted. If she isn't missing her helmet and shoulder armour, I bet Tsubaki will look like a knight. In order to thank me for my kindness, she creates a new weapon for me. It's a good early game weapon that can last until the early twenties, so I thank her for her efforts. Not to mention, it looks much better than the current weapon that I have. Tsubaki also offers to repair my equipment, since her skill level is now high enough to do a better repair job. I decide to hand the materials myself, since I'm not a blacksmith, and she restores the durability of my items by half of their total durability values.

"Hey, Himeko?" Tsubaki asks. "Is it possible that we stick together as a party until we get through the beginner area?"

"I don't see any reason not to," I reply. "After all, two is better than one."

Tsubaki smiles widely as we return back to the inn to log off, saying that she'll be back after dinner. Since we're working together now, it won't be a good idea to grind levels too fast or she'll be left behind.

* * *

**[Leanbox – Basilicom]**

I return back to my office to resume my work, surprising Chika and Leanne who are discussing about something. I am all smiles as I continue going through the pile that is supposed to be finished by next week, but I don't care about deadlines anymore. The game has given me so much fun and in order to enjoy it fully, I will have to make sure that the pair don't have any reason to disturb me. Normally I will be playing alone while levelling up and then join or form a guild. This time is the only time that I'm teaming up with someone during my levelling days, which is a new experience altogether.

"Onee-sama, you seem to be in a very good mood. Did something happen?" Chika asks.

"Yeah, Vert nee-chan. I've never seen you so motivated before," Leanne says.

"I made a good friend during my levelling days," I explain. "She's a complete beginner that jumps straight into the game without reading on the instructions, so she asks if she can tag along with me."

"How does it feel to guide a complete beginner?" Leanne asks.

"She learns fast, so I feel happy for her," I smile at the thought. "Other than the fact that she isn't used to Virtual Reality games, she's a very fast learner and a skilled player."

I tell them what has happened. Leanne, who is quite a gamer herself, laughed when I arrive at the part where Tsubaki doesn't know how to log out. She cringes when I tell them what happens to Tsubaki while she is solo-questing.

"What kind of bad luck is that?" she asks.

"She just happens to be in the way," I sigh a little.

"And then when it is her turn to face the monster, it gets a lucky critical hit on her or her shield breaks," Chika start to think on it. "She didn't repair her equipment?"

"She spends her money on potions and food, but that isn't enough," I explain. "I advised her to take blacksmithing so that she can perform some field repairs to cut costs. Since she's a warrior type that has no way of casting healing spells, I told her to take up first aid as well."

After clearing more work, I look at the calendar to realize that the International Goddess meeting at Saturn's place is due in a month's time. A month… if we can somehow utilize the rest bonus to the fullest, we can get to level 20 by the week after next.

Dinner approaches and it is Chika's turn to cook this time. As the three of us eat dinner, the two asks me about the upcoming meeting and ask if there is anything they can do to help with the preparation. That's right. I forgot to explain to them what the 'meeting' actually is. The first two days is spent in a relatively normal meeting, but the remaining five is spent relaxing and casually chatting, as if we are not goddesses responsible for our nation. After dinner, I head back to my room and resume gaming.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Alicanyte City]**

I open my eyes in the rented room before I look at the lower bunk. It seems that Tsubaki isn't back yet, so I take the liberty of reading up on what we're supposed to do next. Tsubaki logs in minutes later, sighing.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing… just… real life problems eating away at me," Tsubaki just lies down on the bed, wearing nothing but her in game sleepwear. Oh right, I'm only wearing my in game sleepwear too. "I was so close too."

"So close? To what?" I ask again.

"It's nothing," Tsubaki remarks. "Where are we going today?"

"The quests we took yesterday will lead us to the next destination," I reply. "Let's just head there first and worry about everything else later."

"Got it."

We set off as soon as we're ready to tackle the next content of the starting area.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Path to Greenstone Village]**

We head to Greenstone Village, clearing quests along the way and getting acquainted with the mischievous water celestial. It seems that it's lonely because its mortal friend has passed away, so we played on its geysers a little to keep her company. After spending some time, it decides to accompany us to Greenstone Village. At the same time, it grants us access to her water powers. Tsubaki gains the ability to perform a water elemental physical attack, while I gain the ability to place a water barrier which absorbs damage and heals the one protected by the barrier.

She then guides us to a nearby cave, which is where the fire celestial is hiding. After dodging the series of fire traps that the celestial set to keep intruders away (the water celestial remains outside the cave), we finally reach it and it agrees to come with us as well. Once again, we learn a new ability, a fire elemental physical attack for Tsubaki and a homing fireball for me.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Greenstone Village]**

We finally reach Greenstone Village and encountered the earth celestial… sleeping near the village's bell tower. Our job is to wake the celestial up so Tsubaki suggests ringing the bell as hard as we can. We climbed up to ring the bell hard, but nothing changes and the celestial still sleeps. Tsubaki even attempted to hit the sleeping celestial herself, but nothing works since friendly NPC's can't be hit by player attacks.

All the while, the water celestial seems to be trying to tell us something, so we let her do the honours of waking the earth celestial up by spraying water on its face, which works. While the earth celestial was a little peeved at the rude awakening it gets, the fire and water celestial is giving it glares which says that it has wasted their time, so it keeps quiet and accompanies us to find the last celestial.

The wind celestial is nowhere to be found at the cave the others lead us to. We head back outside to find it shivering among the bushes. It flees to the back of the cave after blowing us backwards and continuously attempts to blow us out of the cave. After the five of us manage to get inside without being blown back out, the three other celestial comfort the fourth one before we hear a loud roar outside and the wind celestial starts to shiver again.

It seems that a serpentine dragon is lurking around and it causes the celestial to hide in fear. Tsubaki and I walk outside and confronted the dragon. It lands to engage us in battle, but the fight is more towards awareness than blocking because it is casting spells that turns an area into lightning vortexes and does a number of random breath attacks. Since magical attacks are not mitigated by armour, we will have to actively avoid its attacks. Thankfully, the other celestials also lend their help in attacking the very creature that is terrifying their brethren.

The dragon is finally taken down and the four celestials cheered around us. The story on this beginner's area is finally coming to an end. We return back to the city using our talismans to report.

* * *

**[Sanctuary – Alicanyte City]**

With our duties at retrieving the celestials completed, we return back to the centre of the city and meet up with them again. Tsubaki and I are level twelve now and we're ready to leave this beginner area into the actual game. The two of us selects the water celestial as our guardian, which lets us learn more advanced water element attacks. The other celestials then let us keep the basic skills that they give us.

* * *

**[World – Water Celestial Territory]**

Accepting the new quest causes the two of us to be teleported into the mainland by the four. Since we chose to side with the water celestial, we are taken to the village of water, our new base of operations. With our runestone set to this new village, we set out to meet the village head and talk to her. Clearing the quest that takes us here opens up another bunch of quests. After accepting everything that we can find, we return to the inn to rent a room once again.

It appears that we're not mistaken in choosing to side with the water celestial. Since the village is built in the middle of the lake, most of the quests we pick up occur right beneath the town. Tsubaki is initially afraid to go underwater, but after realizing that the water celestial's blessing allowed us to breathe underwater, she starts moving about confidently.

We cleared quest around the area at a rapid pace and slowly we move out of the village and into the outer areas of the water territory. Because we work in the team, we catch up with a lot of players that have gone ahead of us while I'm teaching Tsubaki to get used to her in game controls. Normally, tanks like us have the lowest amount of damage compared to classes like healer and damage. Since this is a VR game, it allows us to actually out-damage others depending on our equipment.

One day, not so long after we reach level eighteen, Tsubaki seems slightly depressed. She isn't focusing throughout the fight and takes some damage here and there. She has a distracted look in her eyes and is not putting much focus into the game. I can't help but to worry a little on what that has happened, so I ask her if she's alright.

"Nothing's wrong, Himeko. It's just… I know this game is fun and all, but in reality, I'm just running away from my problems," Tsubaki said.

"What kind of problems? Maybe I can help."

Tsubaki looks unsure if she wants to continue. She takes a deep breath and sighs before she turns to face me, who am seated on the other side of the campfire I set up to cook some food.

"Well… I like someone," Tsubaki begins. "I've known her for quite some time now… I'm not going to say her name because I'm afraid I might get her into trouble. I love her with all my heart, but… I just can't admit to her that I do love her."

"Why don't you guide her slowly?" I ask. "Like… send her the right signals, give her hints that you really do want your relationship with her to go beyond friendship. Be brave a little."

"That's where the problems come in. I… sometimes I just think that I'm not worthy of that person," Tsubaki sighed. "She's… well… perfect. In more ways than one. I don't deserve her… at all."

"The fact that you love her shows that you deserve her, even if it is just a little," I smile before I walk over to hug her. "There there. Just calm down and stay positive. I'm sure you can do it. Go tell her before someone else take her away from you."

"Thanks, Himeko," Tsubaki smiled widely before she stands up and stretches her limbs. After remaining for a while longer, we continue our trek to the border town.

Ever since that day, however, Tsubaki starts logging in less and less. She even tells me to go ahead on my own. I had refused to leave her behind and insisted that I wait for her. After the two of us hits level twenty, however… she logs in for the last time, tells me that she's glad and thankful to have met me and to have played this game together with me. After the tearful farewell, Tsubaki gives me her money and hopes that I will put it into a good use.

* * *

**[Neutral Zone – Saturn's Retreat]**

My depression at losing the only online friend I had is quite apparent up to the point that Leanne and Chika got worried. The pair has tried everything they can think of to cheer me up, but their efforts are hardly working. I tried to forget about it and continue playing or working, but sometimes my own train of thoughts lead me back to the days where we party up to tackle obstacles and breeze through them.

Eventually the time for the quarterly Goddess meeting arrives and I find myself sitting in the living room without playing any games whatsoever despite this being the third day of our little excursion to Saturn's home. During the previous two days, the other three asked me if there was anything wrong during break time. I wasn't behaving normally nor was I teasing the others, so I guess, they are bound to notice that.

Saturn is off babysitting Blanc's younger sisters. Uni and Nepgear are swimming outside because it is extremely hot this summer. Neptune is napping in her room. Blanc is off reading in Saturn's study, while Noire is busy trying to prepare the ingredients for dinner. Neptune insisted that she wanted some spaghetti, and after some pestering, Noire finally relents and agrees.

Noire is deciding based on the ingredients that she can find in Saturn's kitchen. She eventually settles on Aglio e Olio, since Saturn happens to have the sausages that she needs for the recipe. After all, the dish is quite simple, only requiring garlic, chilli flakes and parsley, served with one to two pieces of sausage. After getting the ingredients noted, Noire joins me in the living room. Curiosity got the better of her and she asks me if she can tell me what is wrong.

"Vert, are you alright? You don't seem to look too well," she asks.

"It's nothing much, really," I smile back. "Just that… you know… I advised a close friend of mine on how to get someone to fall in love with her. After she took my advice, I started seeing her less and less… and then one day, we just stop seeing each other."

"I know how you feel, Vert," Noire says as a nostalgic smile forms on her face. "I missed a friend too. She passed away a long time ago. I wish she's still alive right now. I wonder what she would say about the progress that I made on Lastation."

"I'm sure she'd be very impressed and surprised."

"That is the reason why you should not be depressed like this, Vert."

"Eh?"

"I'm sure your friend is glad that you've given her advice on love related problem," Noire smiles. "Not everyone has the privilege of being advised by a goddess on that matter, you know."

"True. I guess I should be glad for her instead."

I can feel my smile returning and the weight in my heart being lifted when I hear what Noire has to say. Yeah. Wherever Tsubaki is, I'm sure she should be very happy right now. I guess I can stop playing this MMO for a while and wait until Tsubaki returns before we can resume our quest, if she's ever coming back. I know she makes no promises if she's ever returning to the game, but it's not wrong to hope, right? Instead of being depressed, I should have stayed positive and continue playing while waiting for her to come back. If she's successful in winning this girl's heart, I'm sure she'll be back to pass me a wedding invitation.

* * *

**And that... brings us to the end of this story. Don't forget that Tsubaki is NOT and OC, but someone else's character name in an online game. Just like how Vert introduces herself as Himeko. It shouldn't be too difficult to uncover who she really is. Unless you're really dense.**

******This is Str1k3N01r signing off**


	2. Rom - Dark Visions

**Yahoo. Str1k3N01r back with the new installment of the one shot stories that occurs post mk2. i'll just leave the usual 'only my OCs is mine' disclaimer out this time so that you can start reading.**

**This time, the chapter will be focusing on Rom, the elder of the White Sisters. i know Nepgear and Uni are the two, most well-liked candidate in Japan, but i really liked the twins thanks to their antics reminding me of my two friends. alright, enough talking about myself. i'll shut up for now and let you read the fic.**

* * *

**Dark Visions**

**[Day 1]**

"How was your day, girls?" Atlus asks the two of us after we return home from our recording session in Leanbox.

"It was fun," Ram answers first. My younger twin sister is still energetic despite having to cover most of our duet and her own song on top of that. "Isn't that right, Rom?"

"Sure is," I remark. "Nepgear-chan and Uni-chan have to rely on their elder sisters to perform duets, but we have each other."

"Atlus, is the bath ready?" Onee-chan arrives to the scene, looking at Ram and I still clad in our idol costumes. "Oh. You two. It has been a while since we bathe together. Atlus, if you please."

"Will do, my lady," Atlus remarks before she bows and leaves. The basilicom has been rather quiet recently. Mina has fallen ill, so Atlus has to pull double duty as both our caretakers and helping onee-chan with her work while Mina rests. It has, in fact, been a while since we bathe with onee-chan. Atlus always takes baths with us because we like the way she washes our hair.

When the tub is filled to the brim, the four of us step in to the bathroom and rinse ourselves with some water before we step inside the tub. Onee-chan remains by the side, closing her eyes and relaxing with Atlus while Ram and I play a distance away so as not to disturb them. We might be mischievous, but even we know the proper time and place to pull pranks.

"Come to think of it," Atlus starts speaking. "This is really the first time the three of you bath together ever since I arrived here."

"Rom and Ram have matured under your care," onee-chan has her rarely seen angelic smile on her face as she relaxes after a hard day's work. "I avoid taking baths with them because I didn't want to over-stress myself."

We got out of the tub before our skin starts to display wrinkles to wash ourselves proper. Onee-chan let Atlus wash her back as she applies shampoo and conditioner to her hair while we sit down and wait quietly for our turn. I can tell that it is taking Ram all of her effort to remain still on her stool as Atlus moves over to wash my hair and back. After she is done with me, Atlus moves over to Ram as she visibly relaxes. By that time onee-chan already left the bathroom to return to her study, where she spend her free time either reading or getting materials ready for the expo during summer and winter.

Atlus also returns to her duties while the two of us retreat to our room, yawning. Atlus' scalp massages can do that to you because it is just that comfortable. With the recording done, tomorrow we'll have to make one last trip to the recording station in Leanbox to confirm that we're satisfied with the result of the edited footage and songs. It didn't take Ram long to fall asleep, and shortly after that, I follow suit.

**[Day 2]**

After our short trip to the radio station, we find both Uni-chan and Nepgear-chan over there as well. It seems that they are here to do the same thing that we're doing, except that their respective sister isn't around. I wonder what happened to them after they finished their recording a few days back. Neptune-chan was extremely excited back then, while Noire-san was there because… well… because she didn't want to lose out to Neptune-chan.

"My onee-chan is knocked out after all that recording," Nepgear says. "She can barely move now, so I have to make this visit as quickly as possible and return home to Planeptune."

"On the other hand, my onee-chan went back to work after the recording and interview, being the workaholic that she is. Now she has collapsed in her bed after trying too hard," Uni says. "Seriously… I'm getting tired of her need to be too perfect."

Well, I suppose Ram and I should be glad that our onee-chan isn't like their respective onee-chan. Because of that, Nepgear and Uni cannot stay for long and need to return home to their nation to assume command while their sisters recover. We let them to do changes to their songs first because we can wait until later. Saturn is in Leanbox during this time of the month, so we head out to find the nation-less goddess.

As usual, we played a little with her. Despite the fact that she is not a goddess of Lowee and not our relative in any way, she treats us as if we are her real sisters. She plays with us for a while before she has to return to Leanbox's basilicom to help Vert out. I wish she can stay longer, but we have to return to the radio station as well. The idols, 5pb. and Leanne waits for us at the entrance before we join them inside the editing room.

After editing, we return back home to study. I'm sure Atlus has been waiting for us to return home. She will be teaching us a couple of new spells today, citing that Ram should master something else besides ice elemental spells, while I could use to learn more magical enhancements and other types of enfeebling spells. The four of us candidates make a far more devastating combination compared to our older sisters, although we lack experience and they know our styles like an open book.

Atlus teaches Ram some basic fire, wind, earth and lightning elemental spells before telling my younger twin to start her target practise. After teaching me, since enhancing and enfeebling spells requires a target to gauge if they're in effect, Atlus tells me to cast it to her. While I'm a little afraid, I decided to cast the enhancing magic first before casting enfeebling magic on her. The two types of spells counteract each other, so if I did cast them correctly, they will cancel each other out.

We are a little tired, so after dinner with onee-chan and Atlus, we return to our room to rest. Tomorrow, Atlus will accompany us to test our new spells on monsters in the area around Lowee as part of the test. After tomorrow's test, we'll go to Planeptune to have some tea and cakes with Nepgear-chan. Atlus is even willing to send us off using her Velvet Door spell, something which she uses to avoid travelling on the transports that Planeptune and Lastation provides Lowee with.

**[Day 3]**

Atlus took a few quests and set off to the areas around Lowee with us following close behind. Onee-chan had wanted to accompany us as well, but she something comes up and she's forced to remain at the basilicom, telling us to enjoy ourselves. Thanks to my new enfeebling and enhancing spells that Atlus teaches us, Ram is able to take out most of the monsters we need to kill in one or two spells. Atlus just watched as we practised, throwing a few items over whenever we're running low on SP.

During lunch time, Atlus stood guard as we called Nepgear-chan to confirm the time and place where we're going. We know that Nepgear is always busy with doing her sister's job, so we understand if she takes quite some time to pick up her phone. Ram often says that Nepgear-chan should move elsewhere for a month and see if Neptune-chan will survive being left on her own, although I believe that Nepgear-chan is not heartless enough to do that to her own sister.

"Hello? Is that you, Rom-chan?"

"Yes. Nepgear-chan, where in Planeptune are we meeting for tea and cakes this afternoon?" I ask.

"Actually… about that… something urgent came up, so I don't think we can. I'm sorry, Rom-chan. We'll see each other another day, alright? Please tell Ram-chan I'm sorry as well."

"Aww," Ram complains after Nepgear cuts the conversation. "I was looking forward to today too…"

"It can't be helped. She said something urgent," I patted on my younger twin. "I'm sure we can see her another day. Maybe she can visit Lowee instead."

Our afternoon continues as per normal, clearing quests until Atlus says that she will be grading our performance back at the basilicom. The two of us decide to look for dessert in downtown Lowee before returning home. While Ram queues for the crepes, I sit down at the nearby bench while sipping a cup of hot chocolate… until I see Uni-chan among the crowd. She seems nervous and she's sneaking around the crowd. After telling Ram that I'm going for a walk, I follow Uni around until she enters the jewellery shop. She buys and engagement ring before heading off.

An engagement ring… I wonder who it is for. Stop speculating things, Rom. Probably Noire-san finally deciding to confess to Neptune-chan and asking Uni-chan to buy the ring because she's such a workaholic. It is so obvious whenever we gather at Saturn nee-chan's house for our quarterly meeting that it hurts me as well to see her unable to confess. I return back to Ram and see that she just finishes queuing for our crepes. As we eat our sweet crepe, we receive a text from Atlus on our N-Gear, saying that she's proud of our work and both of us have the remainder of the day free.

We return home just in time for dinner and bath. Mina is on her way to recovery so Ram and I only stayed for a little while, chatting with her before joining onee-chan and Atlus in onee-chan's study to read. I continue reading the stories from A. Christin that onee-chan enjoys reading so much. She is currently preparing on her own books to be sold on expo, which is happening in less than a month and she's hurrying to finish on time.

An hour has passed before I finished reading and am about to move on to the next volume.. When I return the book to the place where it belongs to and take out the next volume of the series, an envelope, addressed to onee-chan, falls from the shelf. It looks like it is already opened and hastily hidden among the books. Curiosity got the better of me when I think about why onee-chan would want to hide an envelope which has the official seal of both Planeptune and Lastation. It should be some kind of invitation for an event.

When I reach the line which says the subject of the official letter, I am shocked and deeply hurt. It all makes sense now. Nepgear-chan was not able to have us coming over for tea and Uni-chan was spotted in Lowee not because of what I think. This letter is the invitation to their wedding. The thought of Nepgear-chan being taken away from me by Uni-chan makes me feel depressed. I thought we are sharing Nepgear-chan among the three of us? This official invitation pretty much tells me that she will not be sharing… that Nepgear-chan belongs only to her now.

Ram and Atlus noticed my expression changes after I place back the letter at where it was hidden before I return back to reading. I am no longer able to focus on the book because my train of thought keep getting redirected to the fact that Uni-chan now has Nepgear-chan all for herself… after making her cry during the first time they met? That is totally unacceptable. Despite what Ram and I did to her on the first time we met, we didn't make her cry! So why did she choose Uni-chan over me? Over us?

I yawn and excuse myself because I am tired of thinking and I go off to sleep.

**[Day 4]**

When I wake up, my mood has yet to improve in the slightest. Hopefully the new lessons Atlus plans for me today can get my mind over the wedding invitation. A few minutes into the lesson, Atlus' phone begins to ring and she has to pick it up after telling me to study on my own.

"Hello? Yeah, it's me. What? What do you mean she left and didn't return? Understood. I'm coming."

Atlus then apologizes for having to cut her lesson short because an emergency has happened on the library's Velvet Enclave. Apparently, the actual chief librarian has disappeared for quite some time now and Atlus is one the three that has been chosen to replace her. I understand her urgency and I nod to let her know that I'll be fine studying on my own until she comes back. Apologizing, she left to complete the formalities in the library.

Hours later, she send me a text message that she'll be returning only after dinner because her fellow librarians insist on settling things the hard way: via a magic competition. I express my interest at seeing a magic competition between three of Lowee's top magicians that work in the library, but Atlus warns me not to come because it might get lethal, so I resume studying based on the notes that Atlus left before she heads to the library.

She returns at night, worn and exhausted, but she still smiles and is happy that I've been studying while she's gone. We have some test on my new physical attack and magical attack repelling barrier with Atlus throwing her compendium at me, causing the barrier to return the book to her before vanishing. She then casts a weak ice spell at me, causing the barrier to repel it and redirect it back at Atlus, who blocks it with her compendium.

"Well done, Rom," Atlus praised, causing my good mood to return as I sit on her lap while she rests. I wonder where Ram and onee-chan went. They have yet to return from their trip downtown. I wonder if Atlus knows.

"Hey, Atlus nee-chan."

"What is it, Rom?"

"Did you know where onee-chan and Ram go today?" I ask.

"Oh. They went to search for an appropriate gift for someone," Atlus says, confirming my suspicions. "They never told me the details, but they asked me to remain with you until they can tell you the news."

That tells me everything that I need to know that I'm not dreaming that up. Nepgear is leaving me for Uni… Atlus tells me that she might need to return to the library every once in a while. Why is everyone suddenly… going away from me?

**[Day 5]**

Atlus returns to the library because she has been named chief despite leaving her two subordinates in charge while she's still working at the basilicom. Ram is a little bored of playing games and drawing, so the two of us went to the guild to accept requests and clear monster infestations around Lowee. The two of us did a very good job getting rid of the monsters, similarly to how we did during the test yesterday. One last quest remains and we ate on the sandwiches that Atlus made for us earlier on. Ram's N-Gear rings before she picks it up and speaks with the person that is on the other side of the line.

"Oh. That's right! I'm sorry I completely forgot about it!" Ram says before she cuts the call and apologises to me. "I'm sorry, Rom, but I forgot I promised that I'll be somewhere this afternoon. I'll make it up to you tonight, okay?"

"Okay."

I'm surprised. Ram has never planned anything behind my back without dragging me along. I always thought that the two of us would always stick together. Onee-chan often asks Ram to do some errands for her without bringing me along. But… why? We've been together as far as we can remember. The only reason we can cope without breaking when onee-chan was imprisoned in the graveyard was because we knew we still had each other until she returned.

Last time, she always complained that all I said was about Nepgear-chan and Saturn nee-chan. I'll be honest that it was only the second time that we welcomed other people into our lives. She doesn't mind hanging out with Saturn nee-chan, but… she was very much against hanging out with Nepgear-chan. Now… she's the one leaving me behind. Has she ever felt how I must have been feeling ever since she's become this independent?

She actually starts talking with the citizens, even asking if she can help with something. Sometimes, she even wakes up earlier or goes to sleep later than I do. It's strange, because we always do things together… but lately, she's been refusing to play with me as long as she normally does before. The tasks that onee-chan asks me to do remains the same, while Ram has been getting busier and busier.

I can only sigh as Ram uses an eject button to head back to town. I guess I'm going to have to clear the quest alone then. I'm sure the ice spells that I have will be enough to do so.

Evening arrives as I return back to the basilicom. Atlus left her compendium on my table in case I want to study further while she's gone. Onee-chan and Ram haven't returned either. I talk to Mina about this problem and Mina assures me that there is nothing wrong with the two. Still, I have my own suspicions.

It isn't until past eight pm that I see Ram together with a small group of people. She seems to be having fun talking with them. She looks pretty tired, but she's still smiling.

"Ah, Rom!" she smiles and approaches me when she sees me. "Are you alright? Why are you frowning?"

"It's nothing, Ram… I just felt left out," I reply.

"Umm… well, onee-chan asked me to cover for her since she's busy," Ram explains why she ditched me earlier on. "I'm sorry. I should have remembered and told you before we left to clear quests."

Accepting her apology, even though I still have my own reservations, we head to the bathroom to take a quick shower, change, brush our teeth and then head to sleep.

**[Day 6]**

Morning arrives with Ram's side of the bed empty. There is also a note on my table from Ram saying that she's off to help out onee-chan. I quietly walk towards the kitchen where Atlus is preparing breakfast. She seems half asleep, so I help her to get the milk out of the fridge and get the cereals out before we sit down and eat. After breakfast is done, I have nothing to do other than revision using Atlus' compendium as a guide while Atlus returns back to the library.

With Ram becoming more independent, my worst fears are slowly becoming a reality. Everyone is leaving me behind. The only person that I have left is… onee-chan. Mina returns to her home early in the morning. Nepgear-chan now belongs to Uni-chan and she's not sharing. My own twin sister, Ram, starts to act on her own when she usually brings me along no matter what she's doing or where she's going. I can excuse Atlus, because that is her original job as a librarian. Why is everyone doing this to me? What did I do to deserve this?

Even onee-chan is avoiding me a little. She always makes an excuse to get me out of her study and the only other time that we're in the same room together, she ignores my questions. She even scolds me if I try to get her attention. I understand that she's stressed because Atlus can't keep up with her double duty and Mina is still not in a good condition to resume her work. However, I see no reason as to why she's ignoring me like this. She also travels to the other nations often to see the other goddesses, leaving me alone since Ram often heads downtown to do something on her own.

Onee-chan says that she's often busy with her work and has to deal with the other nations as well, but I know better. She is always going to either Leanbox, to spend time with Vert, to Planeptune to play those Olympic based games that she and Neptune-chan creates out of a joint project, or to Lastation to tease Noire about her love life. She thinks I don't know, but the little velvet butterfly that I placed on her left shoulder shows me everything I need to know. Onee-chan is avoiding me. Onee-chan didn't want me anymore. Just like how Ram is avoiding me as well.

Since I'm left on my own and Atlus lends me her compendium to study on the last type of enfeebling spells that she is about to teach me. I am able to learn beyond the lessons that she's about to teach me thanks to its help. Afterwards, I started to read up on Atlus' ice based spells to learn how to modify the ice spells that Ram taught me into a disabling spell. It takes me quite a while before I can truly modify the spell, but when it happens, I smiled widely.

Tomorrow is the big day for everyone in Gamindustri because it is the day that Nepgear-chan and Uni-chan is getting married. But I have other plans in mind, and I'm going to make sure that onee-chan and Ram joins me as well. I concluded that… if they didn't want to stay here, in Lowee, with me, then I'll make them stay.

**[Day 7]**

I head towards onee-chan's room. Yesterday, my plan was a huge success and the traps I set knocked them unconscious. I used the ice spells I learned to create ice-cuffs on both of my sisters' arms and legs before casting Tarunda on them. With Atlus busy with her work in the library and Mina recovering from her sickness, I have all the basilicom to myself. I told them that we're closed for today because everyone is about to leave for the wedding… but they didn't know that I'm holding my own sisters here.

I open the room to see both of my sisters, still bound with the ice cuffs, looking at me standing by the doorway. Onee-chan is very angry, that I can tell. Today is, after all, a very important day for everyone. When the guests to the wedding realize that the goddesses of Lowee don't turn up for the wedding, they will start speculating on stuff too. But enough of that. The most important thing is that I'm going to make sure they will never leave me. Ever.

"You little brat! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" onee-chan speaks first. "We are supposed to be attending Nepgear and Uni's wedding!"

"Rom, why are you doing this?" Ram asks tearfully. "I thought you were alright with Nepgear-chan being happy?"

Ram's expression changes when it is apparent to her that I am not smiling normally. I cupped my younger twin sister's face with my palms as I whispered to her ears.

"This has nothing to do with Nepgear-chan."

"Then why?" Ram asks again as I back off a little.

"You two… have been avoiding me like a plague. I'll release you… if you promise not to leave me."

"Rom! Release me right now and I will consider to not punish you," onee-chan ordered, but I'm not going to listen. The two of them are under virus status effect and Tarunda, so not only their damage is reduced, they are unable to transform.

"Oh? What makes onee-chan think you get to bargain? If you promise that you won't leave me… forever… I will release you. But before that… I'll give you both time to explain why the both of you are avoiding me."

"Rom… look… I'm sorry for what I did," Ram nearly cries. "I'm just trying to make it easier for you!"

"Make what easier, exactly?"

"We're candidates, right? We still have our responsibilities even when we're studying! Since I have cleared my own share of studying, I figured that I should do some of your work as well so that you can rest well!"

That sounds very untrue. I always see that Ram's having fun without me. Onee-chan also starts spending more of her time overseas. I'm sure that they'll leave me sooner or later.

"Really? It looks to me that you're having fun."

"I…"

"She's telling the truth," onee-chan joined in the conversation. "I was the one who ordered her to do your share of work because I was about to ask Atlus to speed up your learning process."

"That's right. I was doing your job for you because I don't want them to pile up while you're busy studying new spells!"

"What are you talking about?" I reply before I gripped my own elder sister by her shoulder and smash her back to the wall, hard. She winces a little. I guess she doesn't know that while Ram and I prefer casting spells over physical attacks, we're still siblings and we do share onee-chan's traits, even if it isn't apparent much. "Don't think I didn't know what you did behind my back."

"What do you mean?"

I laugh hysterically when onee-chan asks that question. She seriously didn't notice?

"Don't think I don't know onee-chan always go to other nations, saying that you're going on official business but it turned out that you're there for something else."

"Your accusations are baseless, Rom."

"Really? Baseless?"

I whispered the facts that I learned over the past few days and as I hit the nail on the head, her calm face breaks in horror for the first time. Normally, onee-chan is either calm, or angry. That horrified look on her face is very priceless.

"That's funny. As far as I can remember, every time you head to Planeptune, you and Neptune-chan will be playing that game to see whose mascot performs better. When you're at Lastation, you will be teasing Noire-san on how she fails at attracting Neptune's attention. When you're at Leanbox, you and Vert are enjoying each other's company despite how much you argue with her whenever she comes to Lowee."

I said Vert's name venomously, causing onee-chan to realize that I know about their relationship all along. Why wouldn't I know? Onee-chan always models the stories in her books after her fellow goddesses, even the other candidates.

"How did you…"

"Atlus went busy a few days ago, so I've been learning through her spells myself. I even picked up her famous butterfly spell. I cannot create as many, though."

"But her butterflies cannot even fly past beyond Lowee's borders," onee-chan protested as she struggled against her bindings.

"I have improvised on that. I can create a few at very thick density, or a whole bunch that disappears after flying in the city for half an hour. How do you think I managed to figure out your every move?"

"Wait a minute… Rom, you…" Ram's eyes widens as she figures out what I have been doing while I am opening their closet yesterday.

"At least you noticed, Ram," I praise my sister as I ran my fingers on her cheeks, causing her tears to flow. "That's right. I placed one butterfly within the closet and have them move on the outfit that you will be wearing for that day."

"Rom, you're getting very unreasonable," onee-chan is about to lose control once again. "Undo my bindings this instant and maybe I won't punish you."

My response to onee-chan's threats is to grab her on her neck and smash her back to the wall again.

"Rom! You don't need to hurt onee-chan!"

"Like I said… you two are not in any position to bargain," I remark as I walk back to my younger twin sister and place my right palm on her left cheek. "You two… belong to me now… and I won't let anyone else have you. Nor will I allow anyone to take you away from me. All it takes is a simple promise, and I will let you go."

Ram looks at our bruised onee-chan who is actually crying and saying "I'm sorry," repeatedly. Ram nods her head, promising that she will not leave me no matter what as long as I stop hurting onee-chan.

"Doesn't sound convincing enough, Ram."

"W-w-what do you mean?"

"You don't sound convincing… you sound like you're going to transform and run away the moment I decide to free you from your bindings. I cannot have that now, can I?"

Ram starts to cry and tries to speak again to convince me that she isn't leaving me anymore. This time, I'm satisfied, so I decided to free her from her bindings. Almost as soon as she is freed, Ram walks slowly to onee-chan's side and casts her healing spell at our onee-chan. She is about to cast a spell that will remove any enfeeblement that I placed on them, but I point my own wand at her and glares. Ram nodded meekly and takes a few steps backwards.

"Onee-chan… if you're not going to say anything, how am I supposed to free you?"

Onee-chan winces in pain as she tries to look at my face with her tear-stained eyes and nods before saying the same words that Ram just said. After she finishes saying her promise, I remove her bindings as well and help her to stand.

"That's the onee-chan I know," I smile before I pull them to a tight hug. "The three of us will always stay together. Forever and ever. No one will interfere. You two… only belong to me now."

And even if they want to leave, the entrances to the basilicom are already frozen solid. A wall of ice so hard that not even onee-chan's powerful attacks can shatter it so easily. I won't tolerate people being happy around onee-chan and Ram anymore, unless it is me. I'm sure that Vert will not share onee-chan with me, just like how Uni-chan doesn't want to share Nepgear-chan with me. Before that happens, I have to make sure that onee-chan likes me and only me. Maybe I should even head to Leanbox and dispose of that… woman, before she causes onee-chan to leave me like how Uni cause Nepgear-chan to leave me.

"No… no… that's not… that's not what I wanted… please stop… I…"

"Rom! Wake up!"

I wake up and look at Ram, who has a shocked expression. The sun was just rising over the horizon, proving that I just had a nightmare. Standing right next to me was Atlus, who had a very concerned look on her face.

"Just what kind of nightmare were you having?" Atlus asks.

I shake my head. It is something that I don't want to remember.

"Well, all that we know is that you're crying and you're saying a lot of things," Ram says before hugging me. "But… at least you wake up and we know that you're okay."

Atlus patted us both. She always sleeps in the room next to ours or sometimes we give her a futon to stay here. Especially a few years ago when we would sneak into her futon after she has fallen asleep and surprise her on the next day when she wakes up. That act alone calms me down a lot.

"If it is any consolation, remember that you two are joining Uni and Nepgear for today's tea break after your test," Atlus reminded us of our schedule, causing me to flinch a bit when I recalled what happened in the dream version of today. "Oh and, while you're at it, make sure you act like it."

"Act like it?" I ask.

"Rom, you forgot?" Ram asked. "We're dating! Dating!"

Oh. That's right. I was so caught up in my nightmare that I completely forgot about our little prank on Mina and onee-chan. Only Atlus was told about it beforehand, so all she has to do is to act naturally. So far, it has been very convincing that even Neptune-chan and Noire-san bought it.

* * *

**hands up for people who didn't see that coming! enjoy your weekend. hope this story improves your mood so that you will maintain a positive attitude. this is Str1k3N01r signing off**


	3. Ram - When a Joke Turns Lethal

**Str1k3N01r here, once per week as usual. This week, I would like to present to you Ram's arc of the story, which runs in line with Rom's slightly. I got an idea for this after listening to their 'duet sisters' album and watching the Idol Event in Neptune V. Of course, the jokes aren't really in the events. They're just something I made after listening to their Japanese VA's April Fools interview last year. Can't believe that their VAs are actually as close as their characters. They were even sharing a couch to sleep on.**

**I guess I should stop talking and let you guys start with reading the story.**

* * *

**When a Joke turns Lethal**

**[Day 4]**

I look outside the window as I wake up. My older twin sister is still sleeping, as is our guardian. Today is the day that the two of us are going to Leanbox to join Nepgear and Uni to debut as idols. Vert-san initially wants onee-chan and one of us, but onee-chan is adamant on not going because she has so much writing to do, so we took the offer in her place. Some time before that, though, we pulled a prank on onee-chan and Mina. Atlus-chan, our instructor, is against it, but at the same time she's curious as to how will onee-chan and Mina react, so we include her in the plan. Her job is to sound as convincing as possible while we act naturally. That took place a few days ago. Well, maybe I should explain in detail.

**[Day 1]**

While onee-chan was working on the books that she's going to publish during summer expo, Atlus-chan, Rom and I are reading in her study. Onee-chan already made sure that the two of us would keep quiet while we were doing our own reading, so she let us in. While Atlus enjoyed reading the works of fiction that onee-chan had accumulated over the years, the two of us were more interested in onee-chan's works. So far she had published three different sets of stories.

The series are all based on real live experiences… at least that is what onee-chan says. The first and second series pretty much deals with love between two girls, with the first one (princesses and kingdoms setting) being more serious than the second (high school setting). The third story is pretty much a retelling of our adventures, with our names, location and enemies changed. No one else besides the goddesses, candidates, oracles and makers know about what we did, so the public greatly enjoys the works onee-chan published during the expo. Of course there are other, questionable ones that Vert had asked onee-chan to write, which she grudgingly agreed to.

I enjoyed reading the princess stories, while Rom always chose the high school ones because it's more cute and fluffy, as she said. After we read a few chapters, I had an idea. If love between two girls is as difficult as that, what if Rom and I 'started dating'? I'm sure love between two girls who are siblings would be even more exciting! When I whispered to Rom about it, she expresses concern and worry, but after a bit of explaining that it was more towards a prank than actually dating, she smiled and agreed. Atlus-chan will find out sooner or later thanks to her butterflies, so we asked if she could sleep together with us that night.

The two of us told Atlus what we were planning before the three of us slept. She was not surprised, given what we had been reading all this while, but she said that if Mina and onee-chan found out, we're on our own. Normally, we wouldn't include her in playing pranks like this on the others. This time, however, we're going to need her help. We asked Atlus to do the research on the behaviour of girls that are in love and after she finished her research, Atlus would teach us what to do.

**[Day 2]**

The next day began with us practising what Atlus told us to do yesterday. We begin by holding hands no matter where we're going. Rom's uncontrolled blushing helps the acting part a little. Our first destination is the ice cream shop that we often frequented. Of course, this will be the first time the two of us are going to share one banana parfait and feed each other.

The waitress, who often served us whenever the two of us arrived here for some sweet treats, was surprised that we were ordering just one ice cream. Of course, when we started taking turns, feeding each other, she turned around and took her handkerchief out. I could tell that Rom was enjoying this, so I continued to feed her little by little. We left the shop at around noon and went around Lowee, still holding hands.

When night fell, we returned to the basilicom, glad that our experiment was a successful one. We told Atlus while she washed our backs and hair about what the reactions of the people were when we went downtown and we were ready to move on to the next step of the plan: dinner time. It was Atlus' turn to cook, so we're getting some spaghetti. It might not be as good as the food that Noire-san can make, but Atlus is quite skilled in that department as well. I'm sure she could handle the task. Atlus decided to use cream sauce and some of the fresh seafood that she bought off Leanbox's market earlier today. Onee-chan and Mina joined us at the table as Atlus cooked our dishes with the handmaidens in the kitchen.

"You two seemed pretty happy today," onee-chan asked. "What happened?"

"It's a secret," I replied. Rom gets redder exactly then, causing Mina to give us a questioning look.

Finally Atlus joined us as the handmaidens served the spaghetti on our plates, except for the two of us, who were sharing a large plate on our own. Onee-chan smiled because we used to do this back before we became goddesses and assumed that we felt rather nostalgic, so she decided to let it slide. However, I could tell that Mina was getting worried by the signs. Rom noticed this too and throughout dinner, we kept looking at each other's eyes and occasionally we used our forks to feed each other while Rom couldn't stop herself from blushing.

"What's wrong, Mina?" Atlus asked. Apparently, she noticed Mina's glare too.

"It's nothing. I just want to make sure that I'm not seeing things," Mina replied as she wiped her glasses clean.

Oh, she wasn't seeing things alright. Dinner went on as normal until we finished. Atlus gave us a glass of ice cold strawberry milk with two straws on it before we started drinking together. We returned back to the corridor that led us to our rooms and waited there, in place, with me seemingly pinning Rom onto the wall. Of course, we wouldn't want ourselves to be seen by anyone else other than our targets, onee-chan and Mina.

"You ready?" I asked as I heard footsteps coming. Since Atlus was already in our room, waiting for our little prank to officially start, we knew that the footsteps belonged to onee-chan and Mina. Rom nodded meekly before she recites the lines that Atlus told her yesterday as onee-chan and Mina was just around the corner.

"W-wait… Ram-chan… I appreciate what you did for me today, but… but… we're still sisters!" Rom said softly. I could hear the footsteps stop almost immediately. I maintained my position and continued looking at Rom straight in her eyes.

"Sister or not, I love you, Rom-chan," I said as sweetly as possible, causing Rom to blush and turn around. "We were meant to be together."

"I couldn't… we shouldn't be doing this," Rom whimpered slightly.

"I know we are sisters, but still we love each other more than that, right?" I asked Rom one more time, causing her to nod. "Then like onee-chan said, screw the rules. Our love is more important."

To tell the truth, I was as nervous as Rom did because we were about to take each other's first kiss… if that even counts. As I closed the distance between us slowly, the two of us could hear our hearts beating. Maybe… maybe we shouldn't have asked Atlus to cast that spell on us. While I'm in control of my head, my body just acts as if Rom was all I needed and Rom was all that I wanted. Before long, our lips connected and everything just happened automatically from then on. We remained in that position for a few minutes, kissing, before I dragged Rom back to our room and locked it.

Atlus sat on her futon with her compendium opened and observing how onee-chan and Mina reacted using her butterflies. She was barely controlling herself from laughing out loud. Of course, she could replay what happened to us, so we were trying our best not to laugh as well. It actually worked so well that they actually bought it.

**[Day 3]**

We kept our lovers act for the entire morning as we ran around doing our job as candidates. Onee-chan gets increasingly worried as time passes. Yep, you heard that right. She's worried. Worry isn't an expression that onee-chan will normally show unless her books are not finished yet and the date for the expo draws close. In other words, we were seriously disturbing her. Atlus just pretended that she didn't know what was going on, on the assumption that we became this close after onee-chan was imprisoned in the graveyard.

By lunch time, Mina interrogated us about what that had been going on behind her backs, to which Rom, who decided to be a little disobedient like the last time we set out to rescue Atlus from the rampaging killachines, told Mina that we are dating. That was enough to stun her for a little while and we ran off, holding hands, towards our room. Mina picked the best time possible to enter our room. Our clothes were on the floor, leaving us with only our undergarments on and Rom was on top of me. That was enough to send her away, crying as to why her 'sweet little angels' had become like this.

I'm sure Mina would report to onee-chan sooner or later, so we giggled and put our clothes back on because it was just a joke, but we have to ensure that every other goddess knew about it as well. The recording of our duet would take place tomorrow at Leanbox. Since Nepgear-chan, Uni-chan, their sisters and Vert will be there, everyone else would know about it as well. So far, our plan was going very smoothly. It wasn't long before onee-chan asked us to go to her room. We already knew what was in store for us, so we just played along with the countermeasures against onee-chan's arguments in mind.

When the three of us are inside onee-chan's room, she locked it and she looked ready to give us a stern talking. Onee-chan shook her head before she began speaking.

"You two… you had better tell me that what Mina told me is a joke."

"What did Mina say?" I asked in order to ensure that Mina did relay onee-chan the right message.

"Well… Mina told me that she saw you two making out on your bed. Also, she said that you two were going out."

Yep, that is the correct message… well, almost. Rom had begun nodding and kissed me on the cheek.

"I love Ram, onee-chan. Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"This isn't right," onee-chan sighed. "You two are siblings! It is wrong to love each other."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Because… well… I know the three of us are loved by Lowee's people, but imagine the backlash that would happen if they heard that you two are going out," onee-chan said, barely keeping herself calm. "Whatever you two do, please do not show that in public. You promise me this and I will not raise my hand against you."

Aww boo! Onee-chan merely thinks we're going through that phase. Oh well, I suppose that it was good enough. Of course, we would not show that in public, but that didn't mean that we would not behave this way when only our fellow candidates or other goddesses are around, though.

"You two want what's best for Lowee as well, right?" onee-chan smiled, but she's almost tearing up. Yet another emotion that I thought I would not see. I could tell that Rom felt bad a little but quickly dismissed that worry. "I can only fear that the backlash from the public will be much more critical than I thought."

"Alright onee-chan," Rom smiled. "We promise."

I nodded, causing onee-chan to smile widely as well.

"If this is what you want, then I cannot stop you," onee-chan pulled us into a tight hug. "Just… don't cause everyone here additional trouble, okay?"

"Okay," the two of us smiled. That was enough experimenting with onee-chan's and Mina's reactions anyway. After dinner and bath, we returned to our room to report what had happened, although we didn't even need to given that Atlus' butterflies are all over the basilicom's public areas and corridors. Still, it's a value that Atlus instilled on us and it was something that I learned the hard way since lying is fruitless when she knows what you're doing.

**[Day 4]**

And that brings us back to today. Rom is still a little groggy since she couldn't sleep last night due to how excited she was. Atlus almost used that ice cube trick on the two of us again, given how often she finds us lying flat on our stomach. Luckily I woke up early and prodded Rom awake. Our pouches are also filled with supplies for the day, mainly some sandwiches, as usual, a few of those special potions that Atlus paid Gust to ensure that we can last long enough to record a total of three songs (a duet, followed by Rom's version and my version of the song) for the album.

We had been going to Leanbox for vocal training a while ago. During the practise for the duet, we performed far better than Nepgear and Neptune-chan did on theirs, while Uni-chan and Noire-san refused to let us take the lead. It's funny the more I think about it. Noire-san was all 'No.', similar to onee-chan when Vert invites her on board. Seeing Neptune-chan joining this causes her to immediately change from no to yes.

After the vocal practices were over to ensure that we were ready, we moved on to the dance practice. That was the first time we lost to both groups because they were physically stronger than the two of us, so we took a longer time to master our routine. Atlus often reminded us that onee-chan is stronger than Neptune-chan and Noire-san combined despite looking younger than them, so we tried to channel our 'inner onee-chan', as Atlus called it, and kept trying. Our routine is much simpler compared to theirs and our own instructor let us off easily because to her, we were just kids.

We had a concert with them at Leanbox's concert hall, at the same place where we appeared on stage without any prior practises whatsoever on Nepgear's idea. Apparently, Chika-san told Vert-san about it and they were up for turning us into temporary idols. Even today, we still don't know the reason why, but it seemed that Vert was content with letting us gain support. The six of us are famous enough to actually warrant the recording of our duets, so 5pb. asked her agency if they were willing to handle our recording.

5pb.'s agency happily accepts the deal and set our recording day to today. The three groups will gather at Leanbox for today. Since the small agency only has two rooms for recording, we will have to take turns. We got number 3, so we will go last, while Nepgear and Neptune-chan will go first. We take our time to get ready properly, with Atlus making sure that our hair is silky smooth and everything because later we have to take some pictures for the album's cover image as well. Since we're doing our recording last, we get our pictures taken first.

Atlus provides us a shortcut using her door spell, so we can always get there on time. Although, that door spell does have a weakness. It can only appear in a dead end, so as to look not-so-suspicious, so Atlus picks the nearest possible location to conjure the other side of the door at and shorten the amount of time taken for our trip.

Nepgear, Uni-chan and their elder sisters are already at the lobby of the agency. I can sense the tension between Neptune-chan and Noire-san. As usual, they're in the middle of one of their 'petty arguments', as onee-chan says it.

"Rom-chan, Ram-chan, good morning," Nepgear greets us with her usual, bright smile. Rom and I return the greeting in kind. I can sense that whenever Rom talks with Nepgear, Uni-chan will be looking at Rom with jealousy evident in her eyes. I think everyone besides them knows that Uni-chan likes Nepgear and Noire-san likes Neptune-chan. It's so obvious that Atlus often shakes her head whenever the two pairs are involved in something.

"It seems that everyone is here," Vert-san suddenly appears. "Alright then. Leanne, 5pb., I'll be leaving them in your care."

Vert-san promptly leaves after telling the idol pair to get us started. Leanne and 5pb. lead us down the hall towards the recording room. Neptune-chan and Nepgear then have their turn to record their songs first, while the two of us stay behind in the room opposite of the recording area and enjoy the lounge. I wink at Rom and she nodded before she acts nervous. This attracts Noire-san's attention because she looks incredibly bored and she wishes that she's back home working… at least that's what I think.

"You okay?" I ask Rom.

"I'm just scared if something bad happens…" Rom sighs.

"There there. You're here. I'm here," I pat Rom's back and cause her to visibly relax, even if just a little. "We can do this, just like we always do."

"Thank you," Rom said before kissing me on the lips, surprising me and causing both Uni-chan and Noire-san to drop their Styrofoam cups on the floor with their mouths opened wide.

"W-w-w-what are you two doing!?" Noire-san objected almost immediately.

"What do you think we're doing?" Rom asks back, quietly as always. She is smiling widely while I pretend to catch some breath. She didn't really kiss me that long, though, but she just holds our faces close to each other after brushing my lips. Due to the distance between us and the fact that both Uni and Noire are looking directly at Rom's back while she kisses me, sets the illusion that we're actually kissing for that long.

"You two are siblings and it looks like a serious lover's k-k-kiss!" Noire-san immediately expressed disgust, although I wonder if it is the truth, given how she's constantly denying how much she wanted to get under Neptune-chan's non-existent skirt. Well… non-existent skirt last time. Now she's finally wearing a dress… although I can see that she brings her one-piece parka with her today. Most likely it will be worn for the photoshoot after the recording is done.

"Whoa… just what happened when we're not hanging out as a group?" Uni-chan expresses mild surprise, but otherwise didn't show anything else. At least, she can control herself better than her sister.

"The two of us are dating," I say after I 'recover' from the kiss. Then I quickly cover my mouth as part of the act. Rom also glared at me for an added effect. "I'm not supposed to say that."

"I-i-it's okay. W-w-we'll keep our mouths shut," Noire says. "Right, Uni?"

"Whatever you say, onee-chan," Uni says as she approaches us and smiles. "I'm not sure what to say in this kind of situation… so I think I'll just congratulate you two and leave it at that."

Soon enough, it is their turn to record their song. Nepgear and Neptune-chan enters the room to relax and drink some water to relief their throat. I wonder what caused them to take that long to record just three songs. Rom asks first so Nepgear explains that Neptune-chan was torn between singing as herself or as Purple Heart. Eventually, she decided that she'll stick with herself in the duet and go solo as Purple. Must be nice, having a cute, childish body as one form and a mature, adult one as another. Onee-chan, Rom and I barely change when we transform.

It was my turn to feel uneasy now and Rom takes this opportunity to comfort me like a responsible elder sister. Despite being older, Rom is more towards the go-with-the-flow type and lets me decide on what to do. That's just the way she is. Neptune-chan saw what was going on and was staring at the way our lips inch closer with her mouth open wide in disbelief. Neptune-chan and Nepgear will be a lot harder to convince, so we have to make sure that it does not look like an act. Somehow, I get the feeling that Rom is enjoying this act a little too much.

"Nep! Are you guys doing what I think you're doing?!" Neptune-chan immediately stops what she's doing and forcibly separates us both while we're in the middle of kissing each other. Rom looks at Neptune-chan like a monster that is denied of her prey. That causes Neptune-chan to take a step backwards, unsure of how to respond.

"Ram-chan is my lover," Rom finally speaks up. Neptune-chan looks to me for confirmation and I nod quietly in reply.

"But… that's… does your sister has anything to say about it?" Neptune-chan asks again. To reply, both of us shake our head. She then leaves the room, presumably to tell Nepgear, who is trying to find the rest room, along with Noire-san and Uni-chan what has transpired.

"Hehe. We got them good, Ram-chan," Rom nods after Neptune is out of sight.

"Yes. Now that it is on their minds, they won't be able to concentrate," I giggle a little. Leanne comes in and says that it is our turn to record our music.

After the recording is done, we join the others in the photo taking area for the album cover. Neptune-chan and Nepgear already did theirs, so we're just waiting for an antsy Noire-san and Uni-chan who looks rather relaxed for some reason to finish their turn. Noire-san insists on doing quite a number of poses to outdo Neptune-chan, so it takes a little longer than expected. After the photo taking is done, we leave the agency to return back to Lowee using the same door that we use to arrive here.

"How was your day, girls?" Atlus asks the two of us after we return home from our recording session in Leanbox.

"It was fun," I answer first. "Isn't that right, Rom?"

"Sure is," Rom remark. "Nepgear-chan and Uni-chan have to rely on their elder sisters to perform duets, but we have each other."

Onee-chan then arrives and invites us to take a bath with her. After Atlus prepares the bathroom, we head inside. Atlus and onee-chan rinse themselves, but we use the shower head at each other and fool around as usual. We join them in the tub, on the opposite side so as not to disturb onee-chan.

We got out of the tub before our skin starts to display wrinkles to wash ourselves proper. Onee-chan let Atlus wash her back as she applies shampoo and conditioner to her hair while we sit down and wait quietly for our turn. If only Atlus could do my back and hair first. Then again, Rom and onee-chan have shorter hair, so they will always finish earlier than me. By the time Atlus moves to do my hair, onee-chan already left the bathroom to return to her study, where she spends her free time either reading or getting materials ready for the expo during summer and winter.

Atlus also returns to her duties while the two of us retreat to our room, yawning. Atlus' scalp massages can do that to you because it is just that comfortable. With the recording done, tomorrow we'll have to make one last trip to the recording station in Leanbox to confirm that we're satisfied with the result of the edited footage and songs. I fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed.

**[Day 5]**

We return back to Leanbox today to finalize the content of our CDs. Apparently they agency is including the videos from the concert for the pre-order bonus and you need three albums to form one full concert. Nepgear and Uni-chan are there as well to do the same thing. Apparently Neptune-chan is knocked out because she spent all of her energy after the activities yesterday, refusing to even wake up. On the other hand, Noire-san collapsed from working immediately after the recording, photo taking and interview.

Trust them to behave that way, though. Rom and I expect that to happen anyways. Since Uni-chan and Nepgear will be editing their own album first, we decide to pay a visit to Saturn, who is normally here at this time of the month. Saturn might not be related, but ever since we first meet each other she is always like this, friendly and welcoming to her fellow goddesses. She even treats us as if we're her own siblings. After we're done playing (and bluffing her about us dating along the way, earning her shocked face in the process), we return back to the agency to edit our video. Leanne helps us because she thinks we're a little too young to handle that on our own.

After the editing, we return home to Lowee to resume our studies. Atlus is teaching me more elemental spells, while Rom is learning on a wider variety of support and healing spells. Since Rom will be studying more spells than I will, I ask onee-chan if she can shift some of Rom's responsibilities on me while she studies. After a bit of arguing, she reluctantly agrees to do it.

Rom collapsed after dinner because of how many spells she has to master by today. Tomorrow, we're going out for some practise and at the same time Nepgear invites us for tea and some cakes. I can't wait for tomorrow to come because today is officially the last day we're pulling this prank on everyone. Although we are not sure how long will the trouble we just caused last.

**[Day 6]**

The day starts with Rom waking up from a nightmare. Atlus and I comfort her before we head out to the bathroom to wash ourselves before we do our practise today. After a quick breakfast, the three of us leave the basilicom and set out to the monster infested areas to clear quests that Atlus accepted yesterday. Rom's support spells causes my offensive spell to deal more damage in a single cast, which helps me to conserve my SP. Atlus also has some items that we can consume to recover our SP, although the two of us didn't like the bitter taste it leaves in our mouths. I almost wished they developed flavours for them. Maybe Nepgear can make something like that?

We take a short break during lunch time to eat the sandwiches that Atlus brought with her. The first time we have her sandwiches for lunch, Rom refuses to share any of the smoked salmon ones with me and that marks the first time we nearly argue with each other. After I manage to get a taste, I figured out the reason why Rom refuses to share them. It isn't exactly smoked per se and I can still taste that it is not fully cooked. I'm surprised Rom actually enjoys that kind of food.

Rom uses her N-Gear to call Nepgear to confirm where we are meeting in Planeptune, at which Nepgear sent the coordinates of the shop we're heading to on the map. That will let Atlus make a door near the area again for quick transportation. We return home to the basilicom after our 'test' is done to relax.

Eventually, the time for our tea and cakes arrives. The reason why we have light lunch today is because of this. Atlus doesn't want us to consume too much food, so it's either a heavy lunch followed by dinner or light lunch with some tea and cakes in between.

When we reach the shop, Nepgear is there talking with a blushing Uni-chan. Seriously… it pains me to watch how Uni-chan acts around Nepgear. Why can't she take a leaf from our interactions yesterday and just confess already! Even Rom notices what is going on and she sighs.

"Rom-chan, Ram-chan, you're here," Nepgear greets us as we join them at the table. Rom sits next to Nepgear while I sit next to Uni.

"You two are late," Uni remarks. "Don't tell me you guys hid in the alley to do who knows what before you come here."

"Uni-chan!"

"Sorry… after what I see two days ago, it just enters my mind, you know."

"Actually," Rom starts speaking up, attracting their attention. "It was all a joke."

Since this is a private room that Nepgear booked in this restaurant, no one outside will hear the surprised 'What?!' that just left Uni-chan and Nepgear's mouth. We expect that kind of reaction, but Uni-chan and Nepgear is incredibly shocked that it was all along a prank.

"To think we actually believed you two are going out," Uni-chan starts laughing when she realizes her mistake. "I can't believe I actually fell for it."

"Yeah, me too," Nepgear says. "How long have you two been doing that?"

"For a few days," I reply. "At first we are only targeting onee-chan and our oracle, but after seeing their reaction, our interest in seeing how the others will react grows as well, so we ended up pulling a fast one on everyone."

"Oh you two," Nepgear smiled. "You caused a lot of trouble for everyone."

"So that's why you were holding hands, kissing and looking into each other's eyes while you're at the waiting room," Uni sighs. "You two totally had me back there."

"We got you two good," Rom smiles and I follow suit.

"I guess there isn't anything wrong with a good prank once in a while," Uni says before she opens the menu. "Let's hurry up and order our cakes and drinks. I don't want onee-chan to actually notice I'm leaving her hanging during working hours."

Rom and I are unsure on what to order while Nepgear and Uni-chan swiftly placed theirs. That is to be expected, though. Given the amount of time Uni-chan tags along with Noire-san to Planeptune, I'm sure she already has a favourite flavour in mind. That is, until we recall what Atlus once said about this particular shop. The tiramisu cakes that are sold here are so good that even the true goddess will leave Celestia just to grab a bite. With our choice of cake in mind, we used the device to place our orders. As usual, we will be having honey milk tea to go along with our cakes.

While we're eating, we talk about our prank in detail, telling Nepgear and Uni-chan what had happened previously that drove the plan into motion. Of course, there are a lot of surprises but compared to our elder sisters and Vert, we candidates are really close with each other and especially with Saturn, so we kinda expect her to be here as well. Unfortunately, Saturn is busy today and she has to turn down the offer. We tell them about the warning from Blanc, which causes Nepgear to worry about it a little.

With our snack finished, we head back to the door to return home. What we see back home, though, no longer surprises us. Onee-chan is angry… no, furious is more correct. I can only guess that Noire-san, Vert-san and Neptune-chan must've sent her a message in their chatroom or something.

"I thought I told you little pricks not to tell anyone?!" onee-chan yells before she chases us around the basilicom's public area with Atlus at the pathway to the corridor, sighing as she retreats to take care of Mina. And that, pretty much, marks the end of our little prank. We just continue avoiding onee-chan, who is trying very hard to keep up with us, until she calms down and then we can explain what happens. Hearing that calms onee-chan down faster before Atlus returns.

"Hmm…" Atlus walks over as she reads her book. "I believe that the two tried to cast this spell on each other and its effect on them is a lot stranger than how it is supposed to work."

"What… spell?" onee-chan asks while she takes deep breaths.

"Ever heard of Marin Karin?" Atlus asks.

"The forbidden spell that enchants the target to fall in love?" onee-chan asks.

"Yes. My gut feeling tells me that they somehow found out about its existence and tried it on each other," Atlus explains.

"I… I see… I should've known better than to act on impulse," onee-chan clears her throat. "I thought I was over that phase already."

Trust Atlus to come and save us in the last minute… although this will mean that we owe her for bailing us out… again.

* * *

**More stuff from Persona. well, since the Original Maker is named Atlus, you would surely expect her to do that, right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the cuteness. See you next week. Str1k3N01r signing off.**


	4. Uni - Switch for a Day

**Str1k3N01r here with the fourth chapter of the one shot fics. this chapter is dedicated to the candidate that came in last among the top five in the polls conducted on mk2's JP website. i'm too lazy to write down a disclaimer today.**

* * *

**Switch for a Day**

**[Lastation – Basilicom]**

"Uni! Just where are the papers I asked you to bring?"

"Coming!"

As much as I want to run, I can't… the paperwork that I'm carrying is stacked until the point that I am having difficulty looking forwards. I slowly make my way to our office, located right next to Kei's. Ever since onee-chan decided to upgrade Lastation's network coverage and online services, our workload has doubled. She might be able to pull this off, but I sure can't. I'm not my sister. I'm myself. My shortcomings are my own fault. We're a perfect combination, but… sometimes I feel that my sister is trying to achieve the impossible. Normally someone will be around to keep my sister from overworking herself, but by now, she is most likely to be in Leanbox, helping Vert.

"You really need to pick up the pace. If you do, our schedule will return to normal by this weekend."

"But its way past midnight and I barely had any rest besides making some bread to keep my stomach from grumbling…"

"Because, no one else can do this job other than us, Uni. Kei is doing fine as she is, but she can't be expected to do everything like we can," Noire replies before I can continue. She then takes a small stack and continues on. "If our people knew we were slacking, we might as well be setting them a bad example. Neptune can still get her job done, even though she spends half of her day skipping work and looking for something to devour. Maybe that's because she has a sister that is actually willing to help out…"

"Don't you dare compare us and them," I reply before I continue working as well. "In the very least, they don't push themselves so hard that they will collapse out of exhaustion."

Onee-chan flinches a little when I finish my sentence because she knows that it is the truth. To be honest, over the past few days I've cleared more work that she does because of the small breaks I take in between to rest, snack a little and then continue on. In order to counter that, she begins working even harder… I can see that the past few days have taken a toll on her body… what can I do to get her to rest up, seriously…

"And onee-chan… don't you even try to say you've been working all day too. Sometimes I caught you power napping during the day," I continue, snapping my sister back to attention. "I know that onee-chan wants to clear your work as soon as you can, but with this much? I doubt even you can pull it off."

"I–"

"Can you let me finish what I had in mind first?" I ask. When she keeps quiet, I take it as a signal to go on. "Can I ask you why you want to clear all your work so quickly?"

My sister keeps her mouth shut. Either she doesn't know how to respond or she's at a loss of words on how I just described her workaholic lifestyle.

"Onee-chan… it is you yourself who set the deadline to be insanely short. Do you really have fun making me and Saturn worry about your health? We might be immortal, but we also run the risk of falling ill if we never take care of ourselves," I continue. "What would Melanie say if she was still around? Your desire to attain perfection is starting to affect other people beside myself. Earlier today, Neptune called…"

"Neptune called!?" she immediately perks up at the mention of Neptune's name. I knew it. She wants Neptune to help her. Not me.

"So… this is about her after all, huh?" I look at my sister straight in her eyes. She goes straight into denial almost immediately. "If you wanted her help, why not just ask her to help?"

She sighs and almost immediately, she drops her strong façade and just sits down back in her chair. I am wondering just how long she can continue to push herself like that.

"No, Uni," she says as she yawns and stretches. "Only you and I, dear sister, are the ones who should be getting this pile of work done. Kei can help with the not-so-important ones as well of course."

She folds her arms and sleeps on her table, exactly what she always does whenever she's completely exhausted while we need to meet our insanely short deadlines. "Can I trust you to wake me up in a few minutes?"

Oh yeah, she can trust me alright. I begin walking out of the office and back into my room. Before I start packing, I decide to give Nepgear's older sister a call. Hopefully, she has a solution for this problem.

"Hello? Uni? Is there something wrong? Did something happen to Noire?"

Either she's a psychic or she knows that my onee-chan will do something stupid again if she immediately knows why I'm calling her for. Oh well, that makes my life easier.

"Yeah. I think I might need your help. Can you come over and knock my onee-chan back to her senses?"

"Hmm… I don't mind coming over but… with my work stacking as it is and Saturn coming back next week to check up on what I'm doing…"

"I'll do it."

"Wait… you don't…"

"I'll do your job, as long as you agree that you'll help my sister."

"Alright. I'll come over in a flash, okay? Wait for me before you go."

It doesn't take long before Neptune arrives, but it seems that instead of going through the door, she goes straight towards my room, through the window. She reverts as soon as she hits the floor, before she quickly takes off her clothes and put them on my bed.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asks back. "We're going to swap positions, right? Might as well we look the part."

"I never said I agree on…"

"Well if I'm going to be looking after Noire in your place and you doing my work in my place, it's only logical right?"

It seems that the little bag she carried only contains her toiletries and undergarments for one day. Well, I suppose I can exchange clothes, given that she didn't pack hers. She does have a point, though. I won't want to wander around Planeptune doing her job while wearing my black ribbons and dress. Since our sizes are quite similar to begin with, if I didn't use my pads that is, I agree to swap clothes. At the end of our little clothes exchange session, I'm wearing Neptune's dress and short-jacket while she's wearing my dress and ribbons. The same goes to our footwear as well. In addition, I'm also using the choker and wristlets that Neptune always wears.

"Okay, time to move Noire to bed," Neptune says as she goes off, wearing my clothes. While she does just that, I pack my own set of undergarments and toiletries. As soon as I am done, I transformed and flew out of the window and towards Neptune's bedroom in Planeptune's basilicom.

**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

The first thing I do when I arrive was to tidy up her desk, which is surrounded by piles after piles of paperwork. After tidying up and working on her jobs for a while, I begin to learn more and more about the responsibilities of a goddess. Sure, I ask Neptune some questions initially, but after a few hours, I got used to it. I look at the clock, which shows eleven pm, and I decide to take a bath. This is going to be a little risky, but I'm sure no one in Planeptune take baths around this time of night.

I sigh as I relax in the tub that the purple siblings use whenever they take a bath. I can't help but feel a bit nervous of what might happen if I am caught. After all, Neptune and I did this without telling anyone. Getting caught by Gear in this compromising situation will not only make me faint… Nepgear has yet to see me fully naked like this. I hear the door open and turn my head to see Histoire, no doubt she heard someone using the bathroom at this time of night.

"Uni? What are you doing here and where is Neptune?" Histoire asks.

"Oh… sorry… we kinda arranged something without telling anyone," I reply without stepping out of the tub. "Onee-chan is being a little too hard on herself again, so Neptune volunteered to do my job in my place before asking me to do the same."

Histoire thinks for a while before she nods to herself and smiles.

"So, Planeptune's CPU for the day, don't be afraid to ask me if you need any help regarding your duties," Histoire says before she leaves. It seems like she intends to just play along. Something like this never happens before after all.

"Will keep that in mind," I reply before I get out of the tub, dry myself and return back to Neptune's room before borrowing her pyjamas before I go to sleep. This will be my first time borrowing someone's clothes and out of all people, it belongs to Nepgear's older sister. Oh well, I can't complain. Her clothes fit me nicely. It will be better than wearing Gear's pyjamas. As I lay on Neptune's bed, I wonder what Neptune will be doing to my sister. I hope she doesn't tease my sister too much, or she will yell at me when I return home.

Morning arrives. I wake up and tried to reach my bedside alarm clock before it rings… until I remember that I'm now in Neptune's room, living Neptune's life for a day. Of course there is no alarm clock to turn off… I never set any last night. After rubbing my eyes awake, I find my hands-free bag and take out my change of undergarments and toothbrush before heading towards the bathroom once again. Only Histoire is awake at this time of day, so I take my time to brush my teeth and wash myself before Nepgear wakes up. After that, I return to Neptune's… well… my room for today to put on Neptune's D-clips where my ribbons would normally be. After that, I sit at her table and start working. It isn't too long until Nepgear knocks on the door.

"Onee-chan, are you awake? You didn't lock yourself in your room again, right?"

I cleared my throat and impersonate Neptune as much as I can.

"Yes, I'm awake, Gear."

"Oh, good. By the way, breakfast is ready."

"Be down in a second."

She actually bought it… without even asking why Neptune's voice changed. I can only hope Histoire doesn't ruin any of my surprises, given that she already knows I'm here, not Neptune. I walk out of my room and towards the dining room to see… my large serving of pancakes. Great… I don't think even I can finish half of it. Thankfully, Gear has her back facing the entrance, so she doesn't see me coming in. Histoire, on the other hand, sees me entering and smiled.

"Well hello, 'Neptune'. You wake up early today."

"Good morning, Histoire."

At the sound of my voice, Nepgear immediately turned around to look at the door. When we lock eyes, I wave at her. That act stuns her for a while before she recovers and rubs her eyes for a bit before she stares at me again for a few seconds.

"Uni-chan? What are you doing wearing onee-chan's clothes?" she asks. She seems rather calm… I guess that's why Saturn says that she would make a good wife… well… my wife, as soon as I can tell her how I really feel. It's not fair that Neptune has Nepgear all for herself. At least for now.

"Well…"

**(Girls are now explaining…)**

"So onee-chan went to take care of Noire-san and sent you in her place back here to do her work," Nepgear nods before she huffed and placed both of her hands on her hips. "Onee-chan can be very lazy sometimes. I bet she's using this chance to run away from work."

"Well, she is technically Neptune for today," Histoire says as she sips her tea. "Why don't you just imagine that Uni here is your sister?"

"Imagine Uni is onee-chan…" Nepgear gives Histoire's words some thinking before she shakes her head. "Unfortunately, I can't."

"I doubt I can finish this many pancakes," I say as we sit down to eat.

"Oh, it's alright if you can't," Nepgear smiles. "I'll help."

Sharing the stack of pancakes with Nepgear… this is something that I will never get to experience again after this. It doesn't take us long to finish breakfast before I head back to Neptune's room and continue working. Nepgear joins me a while later, bringing her own stack of work. It is… nothing compared to the amount that I'm working on, though. This is my chance to impress Nepgear. After clearing her own work, Nepgear decides to go through the pile of work that I finished earlier on to make sure that I'm not making mistakes, given that this is the first time I'm doing their work.

Many mistakes and apologies later, Nepgear and I decide to go through Neptune's work slowly. My attempt at impressing Nepgear flops because I kept making simple mistakes. I forgot that I'm doing work for Planeptune, not for Lastation, and had gone through the papers incorrectly, forcing Nepgear to correct most of them and increasing her workload instead of lightening it. She is having fun all the way though, so it doesn't matter to me as long as she smiles.

When lunch time arrives, the two of us already breezed through nearly a third of Neptune's work. At the speed at which we are going, we should be able to clear the work by sundown. Nepgear doesn't cook during our lunch break and opts to head downtown for lunch.

**[Planeptune – Downtown]**

"I wonder what will taste good at this time of day," I ask Nepgear as the two of us walk downtown. Quite a number of people actually stop whatever they were doing to stare at me for a good while before they resume. So much for going around incognito… maybe I should dye my hair before I do this again. That is… if I'm ever going to do this again.

"I don't know," Nepgear admits, causing me to sigh. Yeah, this is our second attempt at trying to spend our time downtown like a normal girl would. Unfortunately, having spent years as a goddess leaves us with little to no experience at acting like a normal person. Sometimes… I wish my old friend was still around. She would know how to act like a normal girl, unlike my sister and I.

"Oh, you girls…"

We know the owner of that voice. It's none other than Atlus, the twins' caretaker. I wonder what she's doing in Planeptune?

"Good afternoon, Altus-san," Nepgear greets the creepy maker. Up till today, I don't understand how the twins and Nepgear manage to get past her piercing golden eyes and creepy stare.

"Good afternoon to you too, candidates," she smiles. "What are you doing downtown?"

"Looking for somewhere to eat lunch," Nepgear smiles. "What about you, Atlus-san?"

"Oh I'm just visiting a couple of old friends. They have a bookstore around the area. Blanc-sama told me to see if I can find anything that is on her list," Atlus smiles. "If you girls are looking for something to eat, why not try Hakagure?"

"Hakagure?" I ask.

"Just head to the shop and you'll see," Atlus says before she bows and leaves.

The two of us head to the place Atlus recommended for us and find that it is a ramen restaurant. We enter and sit down at the counter. After reading the menu and contemplating on what we should buy, we settle for the Hakagure Special. While waiting for our food, the two of us chat over the recent happenings at our respective nation and exchanging ideas with how to progress. I always enjoy talking with Gear. At least she makes sense and is responsible, unlike her older sister. Onee-chan is head over heels with Neptune… she should at least confess while Neptune is over at Lastation's basilicom for now.

"Here you go! Two specials."

Two bowls of steaming hot ramen are placed in front of us. I don't even need to eat it to know that it is going to be special indeed. Five slices of meat, half of a flavoured egg, mushrooms and spring onions. Nepgear waits for me to start eating before she uses her chopsticks to eat a mouthful… only to take everything out and then she starts fanning her mouth.

"Oww… it's hot," Nepgear says.

"Ramen is meant to be eaten hot, but if you're not used to it. You should blow them a little before eating," I reply before I resume eating. Apparently, that half egg isn't enough and I order an extra egg to go for the remainder of my ramen.

While we're enjoying our lunch to the fullest, Compa and IF enter the shop as well. They are equally surprised to see me wearing Neptune's clothes, but say nothing else otherwise. They sit at the table right next to us and wonder which bowl will be worth trying. Everyone else is eating the special, so they must be trying to find something different. They eventually settle with shoyu ramen for IF and miso ramen for Compa.

We left the shop after we bid them farewell and paying for our food. We have to return back to the basilicom and continue working until dinner time. Else, Neptune might get into trouble. Although, Nepgear insists that we drop by another shop to buy a cake for tea time later. We head to the bakery and order the famous tiramisu cakes that I hear about. After that, we continue on our way back home to the basilicom.

**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

After we return back home to the basilicom, Nepgear and I start to work on Neptune's remaining job. I'm making fewer mistakes this time, so we're able to get the same amount of work done in less amount of time. Nepgear will exit the room every once in a while to get some refreshments, either some drinks or some snacks. I really wish this day could last forever… so that I can stay with Gear forever. By tomorrow, I will be going home to Lastation and back to my position as Lastation's candidate.

"Hey, Nepgear."

"What is it, onee-chan?"

Onee-chan? Just what is she trying to pull? I thought she said earlier on that she cannot imagine me as Neptune. Well, if she wants to give pretending a try, I guess I can play along.

"Do… do you have someone you like?" I ask. "Other than onee-chan, that is."

"Hmm…" Nepgear closes her eyes and think on my question for a good while before she continues speaking. "It would be Uni-chan because she is my first friend from outside Planeptune."

That second line of hers is like a spear stabbing through my heart. All this while I've been giving her clues and such… and she still thinks I'm just a 'best friend' to her? I guess my sister's right… she's as dense as her sister. And here I thought Nepgear was completely different compared to Neptune. Well… I suppose they are still sisters, so there is bound to be something similar between them.

We continue our work without many mistakes and by tea time, Neptune's pile is reduced to just one quarter of what that we start with this morning. Histoire happens to be in the dining room as well, so we eat our tea and cake together.

"Wow… this tastes real good," I remark after I took a bite from the cake.

"You forgot?" Nepgear frowns a little. "I thought I told you the first time when I brought Atlus to the shop, she said the cake is so good even the true goddess in Celestia would descend to Gamindustri just to taste them."

"That's a unique form of advertisement there," I reply. "So did the shop use it eventually?"

"Onee-chan really did forget…" Nepgear recalls the advertisement being placed on the shop's door. "Onee-chan went there to grab a bite, and you were very satisfied with what you had."

Histoire left after excusing herself because she has a job to do at the Guild. Somehow… All of Nepgear's replies to my questions are telling her something is up and she knows it. She is giggling non-stop as she leaves. I'll have to piece the evidence together if I don't want to be caught off-guard. Saturn did warn me that she's… well… to say sis-con will be understating it.

"I had to go there and drag you back to the basilicom, remember?" Nepgear laughs. That smile, that cute laughter, that… everything. Exactly as she said, Nepgear is the perfect wife for anyone… I'll have to get her soon before someone else takes her away from me, permanently. However, I notice that she's blushing every time she looks at me. Sometimes I cannot help but sense that she's checking me out as well… I wonder why…

We return back to Neptune's room to get the job done. The last batch of work seems to be more recent ones. I even see the all too familiar Lastation seal on some of the proposals. These are the joint projects that my sister proposes to Neptune, which she accepts. Come to think about it, a few days ago my sister was wondering why there was no approval from Planeptune side yet. I guess this is pretty much the reason why. I quickly worked through them before having Nepgear place her signature on them.

As dinner approaches, we put our finishing touches on Neptune's pile of overdue work before the stack that is meant for today is carried by Nepgear and I back to her room. Along the way, Nepgear 'reminds' me that Neptune always works in the comfort of her own room, which is pretty much what that causes her to end up hardly working, even though her intention is to work hard.

"Onee-chan must be pretty tired," Nepgear says sweetly. "Why don't we head down to the kitchen and I'll cook something for the both of us."

"No, I can't simply rely on you forever," I offer. "I'll cook, but I'm going to need your help."

"Okay," Nepgear agrees. "Anything for you, onee-chan."

I wish she would say 'Uni-chan' instead of 'onee-chan' for that sentence. I know Nepgear is good at nearly everything, but I don't expect her to actually act quite convincing like this. The two of us make our way slowly downstairs towards the kitchen, discussing about what we're going to make. Of course, with Planeptune's technology and resources, I doubt anything that I want to make for our dinner is impossible to do. I'm going to serve a feast worthy of my position as patron goddess, even if it is only for one day.

Looks like I'm fortunate enough to actually see all the ingredients that I will need inside the kitchen's fridge. After locating the apron with Nepgear's help, the two of us start our work in the kitchen proper.

"Do we have rice?" I ask Nepgear as she prepares the meat.

"Yeah we do," Nepgear replies as she measures the spices and soy sauce. "What do you need it for, onee-chan?"

"Paella."

"Paella?"

"It's a… very weird kind of fried rice."

"It still sounds delicious. I can't wait to dig in."

I get to work on some pasta, Neptune's favourite dish, which she always asks my sister to make. Of course, I'm not my sister, so I cannot make something that is too complicated, but I can say that I'm proud of my Aglio Olio spaghetti. There is no need for sausages since we're eating more than just one kind of meal. Of course, since only the two of us will be eating, there is no need to prepare such a large portion either, given that the real Neptune isn't around.

For our next dish, Nepgear handles the yakisoba noodles while I take care of the fried chicken and the omelette. I set the deep fryer ready before using a pair of chopsticks to gently lower the breaded piece of meat into it and move on to make the omelette ready. Nepgear is adding bite size pork, cabbage, onions into her frying pan before adding the special sauce, salt and pepper. After it is ready, I hand over the omelette mix to Nepgear so that she can move on with the dish while I stop the deep fryer and use the chopsticks to take the chicken out before they're burnt. After waiting for the meat to cool off a little, I cut it into small strips before putting it on the now omelette-wrapped fried noodles.

The two of us have some problem with the paella because I forgot how I'm supposed to do the rice part and we end up having to redo the dish because of our little mistake. Thankfully, we can still save some of the broth and do not have to redo everything from step one. I have to thank Nepgear for being alert on that one, so we are saved… sort off. While the rice is cooking, we placed the other dishes on the table.

After the food was done, we take our aprons off before we sit down to enjoy dinner. I can tell that Nepgear is having fun, despite all the trouble I caused earlier today. Although… although there is something odd about Nepgear's eyes… I wonder why, though. Probably it's nothing I need to worry about.

"You know… onee-chan?"

"What is it?"

"Let's go take a bath. I'm sure that warm water will help you to relax after a hard day's work," Nepgear smiles.

We return to our respective rooms before taking our change of clothes and heading back towards the bathroom. For some reason, that smile from earlier seems to be rather… off. Not the usual Nepgear smile, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and ask her to lead on. Of course, since I'm not wearing any pads, I don't need to worry about the topic being brought up again.

Nepgear asks me about that back when we're still adventuring and it surprises me that she actually knows I'm wearing them to hide the fact that my cup size isn't that big compared to my sister's. I've been drinking lots of milk and eating beef, but… given that we are immortals… I don't think it is ever going to change my body at all.

I'm taking my own sweet time to undress, so Nepgear has already gone ahead to fill the tub. When I enter the bathroom, steam is completely blocking my view, but not so much that I can neither breathe nor see anything immediately around me.

"Onee-chan, is that you?"

"Yea."

"I'm over by the tub, if you're looking for me."

"I will rinse myself first and then I'll join you in the tub."

"Okay."

It doesn't take long for me to completely rinse my body. As soon as that is done, I join Nepgear at the tub. The two of us just stay at our respective part of the tub, since the tub is made to be big enough to fit both Purple Heart and Nepgear. I have to say Purple Heart because I'm sure the tub will not be this big unless Neptune occasionally bathes in her transformed form. The two of us chat for a while before Nepgear stays quiet.

Ahh… this is so relaxing. Completely different with how things are going on back home. Everything is so serious… like life and death. This day pretty much tells me all that I want to know about life in Planeptune. I want to move here… but that can wait until I confess my feelings to Nepgear proper. It was at that moment that I sensed movement in the water. While I know it is Nepgear, I don't know what she is planning until she suddenly slips from behind me and hugged me from the back!

"Nepgear?"

"Hush now, onee-chan."

Obeying her orders, I keep quiet while we remain in that position.

"Onee-chan must be pretty tired from rushing through your work in the afternoon. So just relax and let me give you a massage."

"O… okay. Go on."

I keep quiet as Gear massaged my neck and shoulders gently. I've been sitting and doing paperwork for as long as I can remember today that Nepgear's shoulder massages are making me relax by a lot. I think I understand why Nepgear decides to overdo it with the steam… It will be hard for her to do it on me, I guess, even though we did bathe together before we confront the deity of sin together. That time, everyone else was there too… but this time, it is just the two of us.

"Onee-chan, how do you feel?"

"A little bit sore on the shoulders, but not anymore."

"Glad to be of help."

"You're welcome."

After spending some time on my shoulders, Nepgear then moved lower to massage my back. I swear that she's perfect in everything she does. All the more reason why I shouldn't let anyone else has her. It's just… right now… I don't think I'm ready to confess yet. I take a deep breath and let out a contented sigh. For all of my big talk, I'm actually just as insecure as my sister when it comes to confessing.

After that was done, Nepgear turns off the steam generator and the two of us went to once again rinse ourselves by the shower heads, before properly using soap, shampoo and conditioner. After that, we head for the changing room to wear our pyjamas and then we head to Neptune's room to continue our work before it gets too late. Nepgear starts to yawn as the time passes on before she says that she can't go on anymore just a few minutes till midnight. She bid me goodbye before returning back to her own room.

"I wish you could've stayed here longer," I mutter as soon as Nepgear closes the door. "Oh well, I uphold my end of the bargain. I should sleep now."

"Onee-chan, wake up."

"Five more minutes."

"Onee-chan, you have to wake up!"

I wake up when Gear smacks me on my shoulders. The first thing I see in the morning is her bright smile, which immediately shocks me awake as I remember that I should start counting down now. Neptune will be back today and I will have to return home to Lastation. I stretch myself before I sit down at the table, still wearing my pyjamas, to start on the last stack of Neptune's work. It's the weekend, so no more work will be pouring in, so I figure I can go the extra mile and handle this. After all, I'm still the patron goddess of Planeptune until Neptune returns.

After clearing the last stack of work, Nepgear and I make some toast for breakfast. I wish I took the milk-caramel bread spread from my fridge back in Lastation before I come here. In any case, I'll just enjoy Nepgear's butter sugar toasts and some iced chocolate milk. Somehow, anything that Nepgear cooks is delicious to me.

We spend our time just chatting away and playing games in the game room where Neptune's console is placed. Nepgear always plays the party game we are currently playing whenever the twins are around, but this time, it's just the two of us and two computer-controlled opponents. Of course, without the twins around, it is really just between the two of us, because we handle the A.I. easily despite Nepgear setting them to the hardest difficulty. That's just how good the four of us are.

Neptune returns while we're having lunch. Apparently she used Nepgear as a reason to leave my sister behind. She's still wearing my clothes, so we head to Neptune's room to exchange clothes once again before it is my turn to transform and leave Planeptune. The nep-sisters bid me farewell as I fly home, enjoying the view because somehow, I know that my sister will be in a rather bad mood for missing another chance to confess.

**[Lastation – Basilicom]**

"Next time, you better give me a warning before you ask Neptune to pull a stunt like that!" surprisingly, she never goes physical on me. "Can you imagine the shock I have when I wake up in the morning to see Neptune sitting next to my bed?"

"If I give onee-chan a warning, it won't be much surprise now, will it?" I reply, causing her face to turn as red as a tomato immediately after I finish speaking.

Yep, everything has indeed gone according to plan. Not only onee-chan is back to her normal self, she's working normally too instead of pushing herself to the limits. She has some chocolate buns and a cup of tea on her table, something that I have never seen before in the past few days. Neptune must have gotten some snacks for her so that she doesn't starve while working. That aside, our work pile has decreased significantly as well. It makes me wonder if Neptune just likes to play hooky a lot when it comes to work.

"Hurry up and we'll be able to get back to normal in a week."

"Yes, onee-chan."

So much for working normally, but I guess this is what that makes her as she is. Now, if only the two of us actually have enough confidence to confess to our respective purple… I am just… afraid that I might be rejected by Nepgear… I'm unwilling to risk our current relationship as best friends to be broken by my confession. On the other hand, onee-chan thinks that Neptune won't accept anything short of perfection. I offer a silent prayer to the true goddess, wishing that she can give me the confidence I need to say the three words… nine, actually.

* * *

**And so ends this week's chapter. oh, in case you have already read my friend's fic, you'll find that some stuff on my fic actually references his and it wasn't a coincidence. i got his permission to do that, in case you're wondering.**

**this is Str1k3N01r signing off.**


	5. Blanc - Expo Exposition

**Str1k3N01r here with the latest installment of this fic. This chapter will be talking about Blanc and provide some insights on the 'Comiket' and 'Sunshine Creation' Events that often happen in Japan. Blanc is, after all, a novelist. at least the one that has a pair of younger sisters. well, enough rambling for me. enjoy this fic.**

* * *

**Expo Exposition**

**[Lowee – Basilicom] {27/12}**

I look at the clock as I hurry on my latest novel. Everyone in Gamindustri knows that I always publish new books during winter, so I have to hurry up and finish all three books by then. Thankfully, two out of three are already done and is currently going through some minor editing and checking under Atlus and her librarians, while I'm placing the finishing touches on the last book, the one that is written based on our adventures. I am reaching the chapter where the protagonist and her allies set out for a seemingly impossible rescue operation deep within enemy territory, which is actually when the candidates set out to rescue their older sisters and thunder tits. The soft ringing of my N-Gear halts my train of thoughts, but I know better than to yell out at the caller.

"Blanc-sama, the checks are done on the two books. Would you like me to send it to the store you often go to for printing?"

"Yes, please. I'm busy with my third book right now and I think I'm running out of time."

"Will do."

Atlus ends the call and with that, I return to recalling the events from the twins' perspective. They told me a lot on what happened before the rescue operation. All I need is to change it a little and then flesh it out so that it looks like an original story. None of the civilians know about the war that we wage with ASIC with great detail, so they assumed that it is a work of fiction. Snow is falling outside and the twins are busy making a snowman with Mina, so I can write in relative peace.

Human traffic to Lowee increases steadily as the Expo days draws closer. The travellers will be staying at the hotel that is the nearest to the expo grounds for the sake of convenience, so I upgraded it sometime between the summer and winter expos. It's only normal. Only Lowee holds expo conventions like this where people from around Gamindustri gather to show their talents. I am one of them. I should be able to have more sales this year because the twins volunteered a few days ago to serve as mobile signboards to bring people to my booth.

My stomach grumbles before I remember that I only ate a little for breakfast. It is never a good idea to force my head to come up with ideas when I'm sleepy, or it will appear half hearted and not well done at all. It is almost lunch time and Atlus will be returning home soon. I'll continue writing after I finish eating lunch, I suppose. Forcing myself to write will make me look like Noire from Lastation, given how she always forces herself to work in order to one-up Neptune and being worthy of having Neptune to herself.

It is way too obvious that she likes Neptune, even from back then when we were held prisoner in the graveyard where she constantly monitored Neptune's condition. Neptune was kept separately from the three of us because she was the biggest threat, since her sister escaped and would probably began working to recover shares for her. My sisters were still mentally not ready for retrieving shares back then, so when I felt my strength growing, even though a little, I was surprised. The same goes to Noire, because Uni should be working on retrieving shares as well. We were almost confident to stage an escape, but given that Thunder Tits didn't have any candidate to help her regain shares… she would be a burden to the three of us had we tried to escape, so we stayed here just in case ASIC tried to do something funny.

I walk slowly to the dining room to be greeted by the twins, who are waiting impatiently on the table. It seems that Mina and the new helper she recommends to me are still busy cooking. Atlus arrives a moment later through her Velvet Door spell, carrying with her a suitcase worth of printed novels.

"That fast?" I ask.

"They have bought some of the machines that are co-produced by Planeptune and Lastation to increase their productivity," Atlus reports. "If this goes on…"

"Let them be," I reply before I sip my tea. "Neither Planeptune nor Lastation is actively trying to gain our shares."

"How can you be so sure?" Atlus asks. In reply, I pass her the document that the twins recently handed over to me, a detailed report on the shares by the Guild. The Guild is the only organization that has headquarters in the four nations, so they can be counted on to provide non-biased reports. Sure enough, my shares and Thunder Tits' remained at a comfortable 25%, while Neptune and Noire are waging a tug-of-war with the remaining 50%. Seriously, seeing those two nations and their petty squabbles annoy the hell out of me…

The document silenced Atlus, who will usually find a way to retort, but it seems that she opts not to do so today. The twins quickly greeted their teacher when they noticed her presence in the basilicom. Those two dote after Atlus as if they are her sister. I suppose it makes sense, given that I was away from home, imprisoned for three years and they need someone to turn to. They didn't disturb me whenever they join me in the library too and I have to thank Atlus and Mina for teaching them discipline. I let them run wild elsewhere, though.

Mina and the new girl soon join us at the table while my handmaidens serve us lunch that they just finished cooking. She seems a little nervous because it is only her third day working at the basilicom. Come to think of it, I didn't catch her name when she comes around, so all this while I've been calling her with her title, Financier. She doesn't seem to mind, though. So far, she's been doing a good job managing Lowee in her area of expertise, so Mina can resume her duties in helping me out with other, non finance related duties.

The twins have yet to open up to Financier, although they do reply when Financier wants to talk to them. Thankfully, the pair decided not to prank Financier for now because they were busy playing their pocketed monstrosities game. Well, Financier is in charge of their pocket money now. I'm sure they will not want Financier to have a reason to cut their allowance. It seems that Financier's baked sweet potatoes that she gave the twins a few days ago during snack time won their hearts, even if just a little.

Lunch proceeds as normal and soon I find myself back in the library, typing out my books once again. I should be able to complete the final chapter of the first book in my third series soon and then ask Atlus to run a check on it before printing it, as usual. Everyone is wondering who the characters in other two books are based on except for Atlus, who read my mind as usual when it comes to doing things, and Saturn, who they actually consulted but made no active role as a matchmaker.

Hours pass by quickly and before long, tea time arrives. This is the time of day that the twins enjoy the most because they get to spend an hour in my study, where they enjoy reading my books without knowing I am the author. Atlus often accompanies them, but this time, she's setting off to get her girls to check that my novel is not filled with minor mistakes. In Atlus' place is Financier, who happened to be done with today's work and is letting the twins read while she serves tea and cakes. Of course, she doesn't allow the twins to eat the cakes while they are still holding on to my books.

Atlus reports that the books will be printed tomorrow, so we just need to secure the spot where I'm going to sell my books at during the anime and game expo. It might be a little late, but I'm still the goddess of Lowee. I have my own connections that I can use specifically for the expo to make sure that I will get a spot. Unfortunately, the manager will have closed his office by now and it will be stupid for me to call at this time of day. Sometimes I wish I had enforced a rule in which offices like this don't close too early, but that would go against the policy that I set to ensure comfort of my people in this kind of weather.

Evening passes by so quickly without any events during dinner, so Atlus and Financier helped to pack my novels into suitcases that have been prepared. This will be the first time the twins are travelling with me into the expo because I'm going to need all the help I can get to carry my stuff over, not to mention that they're helping me with the advertising, thanks to the costumes that Vert had designed for a convention in Leanbox.

**[Lowee – Basilicom] {28/12}**

The day begins with me and the twins taking a short walk around town. We have to buy the supplies we will need for three days in the expo. I'm sure that I won't have much time to roam around so I will have to buy enough drinks and snacks for the twins, who will be running around attracting crowds. I'm sure we will not have time to grab a proper meal as well, so I already make precautions and tell Atlus to use her door spell at my booth to pass us some food.

We return home to grab breakfast before I call the event director's office to secure a booth for myself. It seems that there are a few slots left so I am given the best one out of the remaining slots. Thunder Tits called me afterwards, intending to borrow the twins once again. I don't mind, given that the twins will need to wear their cosplay costumes anyway, so I told her that I'm up for it, as long as the twins, the other candidates and Thunder Tits will be advertising for my booth. She doesn't mind, so the deal is sealed.

Nepgear calls in next, saying that she and Uni would like to borrow a room at the basilicom to stay overnight before leaving with us next morning to gain circle entry. It seems that they will be cosplaying again, just like last time when they went to an event to represent Thunder Tits because Saturn called for all the goddesses to participate in a last minute meeting and Thunder Tits couldn't afford to miss the event for a lot of obvious reasons. Nepgear tells me that Noire and Neptune will be heading to Lowee separately, which surprises me. Nepgear can be rather clingy to her sister. There must be a good reason why Neptune is travelling with Noire.

**[Lowee – Downtown]**

In the afternoon, I accompanied Atlus, who has the documents containing the new novel that I'm publishing on this year's Expo that has been proof-read and cleaned of mistakes by her librarians. We head to the printing shop that I always use whenever I want to print my novels, thus they already know and even planted a banner there saying that Lowee's goddess often come here to borrow their services. Not only that, they gave me a discounted rate as well since I often do a lot of printing when summer and winter expo comes along.

While the books are printing, Atlus stays behind so that she can immediately bring the books back to the basilicom as soon as they're finished. I didn't immediately return to the basilicom and instead scout around the area. If the reports are to be believed, then the other goddesses should be here as well. Noire will be likely to drag Neptune to the Expo. The other candidates should be with Thunder Tits, given that she intends to group cosplay for that favourite online game of hers.

"Why do I have to wear this, Noire? Where did you get this outfit? And what are YOU wearing? I-I mean… the colour suits you, but that long coat is honestly a bit strange."

"I-I made these myself, okay? I was watching this new anime and the main characters had such nice-looking costumes, so I guess... and s-since I'm the Black Swordswoman and all... y-y-you s-should b-be... umm... umm..."

"What's the matter Noire? Your face is all flushed."

"S-shut up! I just thought the main characters' outfits looked cool, alright? There is absolutely no other reason or anything!"

Well well… looks like I don't have to go around town aimlessly for so long. This is one of the situations where I'm thankful that I'm… petite and modest, as Thunder Tits said, compared to the others. It's easier to blend with the crowd. I observe Noire and Neptune from a distance as they argue with each other while heading to the hotel that is the furthest from the city centre. Ah, so this is why Nepgear mentioned earlier that they were heading to Lowee separately. They are staying at the hotel that is nearest to the expo area, so that they don't need to leave as early as other visitors of the expo.

**[Lowee – Basilicom]**

I returned home to find Nepgear and Uni making themselves at home with the twins. Thunder Tits should not be too far behind, then. It seems that while Uni is a little reluctant at putting on her cosplay outfit once again, Nepgear manages to convince her otherwise… or perhaps she's only putting it on so that she can have a good reason to ogle at Neptune's younger sister? I envy the fact that the candidates get along very well, while us goddesses argue with each other over little things.

"Blanc-san, good evening," Nepgear greets.

"Good evening to you too," I reply. "I believe preparations on your side are ready."

"Yep. Uni and I are all set and ready to go," Nepgear smiles. "By the way, are we supposed to be distributing pamphlets?"

"No. You will be moving signboards," I reply with my usual deadpan expression when Nepgear asks me a… stupid question, giving me her shocked expression before I smile. "Of course you will be distributing them. I thought you would know better than Neptune."

"Where is Thun… I mean, Vert?" I ask after Nepgear recovers. I should stop calling her Thunder Tits when the others are around.

"She said she has other things to do before she comes over," Nepgear replies. "But she will arrive here before dinner."

Before dinner huh… knowing Thunder Tits, she will eat an extra large portion of Lowee's famous dishes. Her and her nation where everything is super sized… I guess that's why her tits are super sized too… I can't eat much either. I guess I'll just have to alert my kitchen crew that she's coming. Atlus should be able to make something good for all of us, given her extensive knowledge in recipes that are available in the library. Just where is she, though. I'm sure the printing should be done by this time of day…

"Sorry I'm late."

Atlus appears from her door spell the moment I enter my study. With her are the suitcase filled with the third book that I'm starting this year and the piles after piles of advertisement pamphlets. After dividing the pile into five, we tidy the last suitcase that is going to contain my novels before returning to the basilicom's living room. Vert just arrived a few minutes ago and is just making herself comfortable on the couch while she watch the candidate play a card game from her nation.

"Oh. Hello, Blanc. I heard you have been busy?" she asks casually. Oh please… you already know about my little secret ever since how many years ago.

"Busy is correct," I reply as I try to control my temper. She's teasing you. She's just teasing you. Stay calm and carry on. "Why would you cosplay for your game while in Lowee anyway? I'm worried about Uni's health. This is winter we're talking about."

"Yes, I just talked to Uni and have prepared the winter version of her garments," Vert smiled. "She can just stick her nation's future proof hot packs inside to stay warm."

I sit next to her because knowing Vert she'll just find a way to make sure that she can continue teasing me. The last time I did that, she did nothing other than resting her… ample chest on my head, making me uncomfortable.

"That aside, what time are we going there tomorrow?" Vert asks after being silent for a while.

"I intend to leave six hours before the event starts," I explain. "I know it sounds too early, but we'll just have to sleep earlier to maintain our stamina."

"So you propose we sleep at nine?" Vert looks concerned. Sleeping at nine will mean that she has little time left to play. Well, it's either that or she'll be breaking the deal that she made with me. She has no other choice but to accept.

"Pretty much."

"Blanc-sama, Rom-sama, Ram-sama! Dinner's ready!"

Financier's announcement causes the twins to drop what they are doing and make a beeline towards the dining table. Uni, Nepgear, Vert and I take our time because it will not be served that fast anyway. Atlus and Mina are already waiting for us at the table, while Financier joins us shortly before the girls bring the dishes out of the kitchen. It's a simple, Lowee style dinner of rice, fish, chicken and soup, although Vert's portion is slightly bigger than everyone else's.

After dinner, we take our evening bath relaxing in the tub before we head to our respective rooms to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day and it is better to sleep early and wake up refreshed rather than having to suffer on the next day because one does not have enough sleep. I can tell that Vert is going to have to force herself to sleep, given that she normally spends time playing her online game. Of course, she also knows that sacrifices have to be made for something.

Nepgear passes me a device which she says is able to hide my true form, so I stand in front of the mirror to adjust the device's settings to a form that I want. I modelled my illusory appearance after Ram, followed by adding a pair of glasses to make sure that people cannot recognize me without paying special attention.

I fall asleep, wondering how many books I can sell this time. The new book that I'm publishing… I have doubts about them that I'm unwilling to print out too many copies. On the other hand, the other two are well received, so I'll just sell them off to people if they are not sold out by the time the event closes in three days. After all, I know not everyone is free to leave their home and head to Lowee, especially citizens of Leanbox.

**[Lowee – Basilicom] {29/12}**

First day of the event. Nepgear and Uni wake the twins up at around 4 am and together, we head to take a bath as soon as we wake Vert up. She seems fresh, so I assume that she managed to get more than four hours worth of sleep. After a quick bath and a very early breakfast, we set out to the expo grounds. Our plan is to fly there before choosing a safe spot, landing, reverting and entering the event area through circle entry since I have passes.

**[Lowee – Expo Grounds]**

"I must admit, I'm lucky to actually be given circle passes," Vert said as our little group bypass the long queue that has already formed outside the expo building. We can see Noire and Neptune, wearing their cosplay costumes from yesterday, among the crowd. I'm surprised that they are not dead last even with Neptune around. I guess that's just how perfect Noire is. The pair is at the head of the queue and while Neptune is complaining at why they have to get up so early, she seems to be enjoying the change of scenery.

After flashing the tickets and showing that the candidates and Vert are part of my group, they let us in and we immediately make a beeline for the table where I can set up my booth. The candidates helped to stack the books neatly on the table. Vert, on the other hand, observed the other stalls for any of those… BL circles that she might be able to find. She can be rather hardcore when it comes to that, but as long as she doesn't try to poison any of the candidates, I can deal with that. I recall the last time Neptune, Uni and Saturn had to knock some sense back into Gear's head after Vert was done… well… 'torturing' the poor candidate with BL games.

We still have a few hours to spare, so I distributed the pamphlets equally among the five and then I sit on the chair provided with my cash box in place. Some of the other circles are following my novels, so they approach my stall before the event officially starts to trade goods. Since all of my 'helpers' are roaming around the area, they send a member of their circle to trade stuff. Of course, normally it will take around two or three of their doujinshis or artbooks to purchase one of my novels.

"Good morning. Bianca-san, right?" one of them greets me using my pen name. "You seem ready for today. Who were all the people just now?"

"Ah, the teens are member of my circle, while the pair of little girls is my younger sisters," I explain, lying a little to cover for Nepgear and Uni. "The older one is just a friend who wanted an early entry and I happen to have a spare circle entry ticket."

"Then, Bianca-san… the usual?" another asks. 'The usual' refers to what circles often do before the event starts, trading goods with equal monetary value among each other.

"Why not?" I smile and pass her one of my books as she lets me choose between the stuff that her booth is carrying. "I'd like to have a copy of Superscenic 2 then."

"Sure."

Collateral Damage Studios. A group of skilled artists that hails from Lastation. I wonder why they call themselves that, though. It is not exactly an impressive name compared to the Nep-Style circle that is making the next exchange with me. These cute relation-shipping doujins are more for the twins to read than for me. They have a section dedicated to their collection of teenage shoujo-ai novels that are either written by me or purchased during the expo.

Another circle presents their artwork to me. They are a newcomer so they let me browse through their sample copy before I decide that I am willing to make a trade with them. It's good to see that many budding artists like this showing up for the expo. Our little exchange continues until the staff moves in to manage the official merchandises that will be sold for the three days of the expo, which is around two hours into the start of the event.

The twins return back to my booth to store whatever that they managed to buy from the booths they visit, mainly artbooks and occasionally cellphone straps, stickers, mouse pads for their notebooks, clear files and such. Well, as long as they are having fun. Vert also returns with her own set of goods, placing them within her own suitcase. Nepgear and Uni returns afterwards and we take out our airtight lunchboxes which contains sandwiches Atlus prepared the previous night to grab something to eat before the day officially starts.

Ten o'clock finally struck and the entrance officially opens. I can relax for a bit because people know that I'm well stocked except on the third day, because occasionally I run out of books after the second day ends and will have to lend the booth out to others who want to use it or spend the third day trying to make up for it by letting them leave their name and addresses so that I can print the extra copies they ordered and mail them to their homes after the event is finally over.

Vert and the others are already at the entrance, distributing the pamphlets to advertise my third series. I sincerely hope the fans that have been following my two works will give it a try as well. Initially, the halls of the doujin area are not so crowded with people, but as time goes on, the crowd builds up and occasionally I can see a few runners rushing their way through the stalls and making purchases for their groups. A few of them are familiar faces too, people who have appreciated my work and give me advice on how to improve on it.

I remember the first time I started doing this. Initially I publish my short fics online, but eventually I decided to print some stuff and have an artist decorate it with a picture or two. The first book that I released was… mediocre at best. However, the plot and idea that I have impresses some people after they gave the novel a go and they got back to me as soon as they finished reading them, giving me advice on how to improve the flow of the story and such. Normally I would rage when they gave me criticisms like that, but that time I took their words seriously and rewrote the first novel before sending it back to the people that were willing to give me a piece of their mind. They were impressed with how I changed it, to say the least, and they became my loyal customers.

"Oh, you have a new book, Bianca-san?" the young lady asks, ending my flashback.

"Yes," I smile back.

"In that case, I'll get all three," she smiles and takes out the exact amount of credits to pay for the books before she disappears into the crowd. I always wonder how she does that despite her height. Soon enough, I see a hyper Neptune running through the crowd making purchases. She does not stop at the booths near my location so I'm safe from being recognised by her. As for Noire… she's trying to keep up with Neptune because the two are doing pair cosplay to begin with.

The day proceeds without any problems whatsoever before the event officially closes at four pm for today. I saw Neptune and Noire posing for the others to take pictures as I leave the area with Atlus' help. The twins are at home, in the middle of their nap. They went home almost as soon as they're done with distributing the flyers since they already purchased everything they wanted by then. Uni and Nepgear leave to hang out with their sisters. As for Vert… no one knows where she went after distributing the flyers and taking her suitcase with her. Oh well, not that I care too much anyway.

**[Lowee – Expo Grounds] {30/12}**

Once again, we arrived here early in the morning. The twins don't want to come today so it's just Vert, Uni, Nepgear and me. Of course, they left their shopping lists with Nepgear, while Uni volunteered to help Nepgear out. Since most of the circles are not coming back for a second round, there are some new faces from the booths around me. Some of them familiar, others are not. Still, it is good to see that the little expo project I started grow from a small community of merely ten thousand visitors into numbering around half a million.

The plan is exactly the same as yesterday. I will man the booth, while the others will do whatever they want as long as they keep distributing the pamphlets. Waiting at the booth for the second time bores me, so I bring a new novel that Atlus recommends from Lowee's great library to read whenever there is no one making any purchases to pass the time. It doesn't take too long before a line starts to form for my booth because I am too absorbed in the book and the first customer, a friend of mine, doesn't want to interrupt my read.

"Bianca-san," Saturn, the Planeptune goddess from another world, greets me with her smile. Oh… I cannot help but to be embarrassed a little. She actually addresses me by my pen name, which implies that she knows who the author behind the books she's collecting is. I blush uncharacteristically as the easily most mature among the five of us not only asks me for all three volumes of my work, but for my signature as well.

"Are you treating me like a kid?" I ask, trying to mask my embarrassment.

"No. I'm being serious," she replies as I sign her books. "Thank you, Bianca-san. Have a nice day."

I think she really is teasing me. She seems to be enjoying the expo even though she doesn't spend much. This is her first time here, I guess, so it's only natural that she looks tired. Having to deal with the crowd can be a hassle. She looks untidy too, so I guess that she is one of the first one thousand fans to enter the area. I notice Noire once again. She's looking for Neptune, who has apparently vanished together with the crowd. It is rather hard to find Neptune in this kind of situation because Neptune is wearing a costume, but it shouldn't be too hard, given that her purple hair stands out regardless where she goes.

Somewhere in the queue is Falcom, easily noticeable thanks to the guitar case she's carrying. The first time we met, I was just an average author while she is a veteran who wrote stories based on her own adventures. I went fangirl the moment I met her and revealed that embarrassing side of myself to Nepgear out of all people. Thankfully I made sure that Nepgear will never tell that to anyone. Now, the two of us are following each other's works. I'm sure she's here to buy the third book that I'm publishing. She doesn't need to know the contents first, though.

The day ends with the new title being sold out, with a few copies remaining for volume 3 of my first work and volume 2 of my second work. I'm satisfied with this result, so I send Atlus a text message to prepare my notepad so that interested buyers tomorrow can just leave their name, contact number and address. Vert returns with even more purchases before she keeps me company on my booth as we wait for Nepgear and Uni to return. Atlus arrives moments before the candidates return and together we take the shortcut back home to the basilicom.

**[Lowee – Expo Grounds] {31/12}**

Last day of the Expo. This time, everyone requests for circle entry together with me. The twins stay at the basilicom again today, so I am able to admit Neptune and Noire in their place. Atlus says she will join us through her Velvet Door spell once the event starts. There are no more pamphlet distributions, so they are free to do whatever they want once the event starts. Call it cheating, but Atlus cannot create the Velvet Door until the event starts because of the magical wards designed to prevent terraportation magic like hers from being used until the doors officially open.

Once again the booths around me are occupied by a different set of circles, making me the only one that stays here for all three days. As the gates to the event opens, my remaining books are quickly purchased by the few lucky customers that reach the booth. Everyone else will have to be content with writing their name down in my order list so that I can send them their books as soon as I'm done printing them at the shop. Atlus is here with me today, which allows me to roam around the expo while she manages my booth. Thankfully, no one notices that I am the goddess of Lowee, thanks to this device that Nepgear lend me.

Unlike the others, I don't make any purchases whatsoever. I'm just observing what the other circles are doing, tidying up their stock of items as the final day of the expo draws to a close. There are some who are crying because nobody bought their stuff, while some shed tears of joy because theirs were sold out within the first few hours after the event starts.

Noire, Neptune, Nepgear and Uni are busy cosplaying and I must say, the costumes are well done. Noire really put a lot of effort into them. The question here is… why are they cosplaying characters from that doujin game? Hmm… judging by who they are cosplaying… Noire seems to be trying to send the right signals to Neptune… although Neptune is just having fun all the while. Vert seems very pleased as she lugs her purchases along, clearly satisfied at the amount of goods that she gets through her connections with me.

From this distance, we can see Nisa, Arc and their group of security officers slowly making everyone leave the area. Atlus greets her old friend before she makes her way to join us and prepares a quick getaway by using her spell.

**[Lowee – Basilicom]**

The twins greet us as we step into the basilicom. Neptune, being herself, immediately rests on the couch with her sister. Noire is still trying to stand before she finally gives up and rests with Uni. Vert does the same with me because the twins are pestering Nepgear and Uni for the items that their fellow candidates managed to purchase for them.

It seems that everyone is staying over until dinner, at least, so I ordered Financier, Mina and Atlus to make extra servings since Neptune's here. Neptune is busy arguing with someone over the phone, so we suspect that it is Saturn.

"Come on! Let us stay at your place for New Year's!" Neptune pouted while she talks to her 'babysitter'.

Given that this is Neptune we're talking about, she's going to drag us all the way to Saturn's home and stay there for a day before returning home on the next day. Well… it has been a while since we gather over there, so I don't see why not. Atlus should be able to drop us off over there to save time.

Moments later, Financier announces that dinner will be served soon, so we start moving from the living room to the dining room. Once again, tonight's dinner is a rather simple dish of soup, fish, meat and vegetables. Neptune devoured her portion within minutes while egging us to eat faster, much to Noire's annoyance. After we finish our dinner, we tell the three of our plans and Atlus sends us off. I'm sure she, Mina and Financier can take care of anything while we're gone for a day.

"Have a good rest, Blanc-sama," Atlus says before she opens the blue door, allows us to pass before she closes it.

* * *

**I hope you readers enjoyed this fifth chapter in the series. the next two chapters will cover the remaining two goddesses and one candidate, but I'll leave it up to you to guess on who is going to be featured next.**

**Str1k3N01r out.**


	6. Nepgear - Realization

**I'm here again, as per scheduled once a week. I'm still feeling lazy to write a full disclaimer so I'm just going to say that only the OCs belong to me. This chapter will deal with Nepgear and actually serves as one of the chapters of a fanfic that i had in mind, just that it might take some time for me to write it out.**

**Go on, get reading then.**

* * *

**Realization**

**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

It has been weeks since onee-chan started paying more attention to her work and is trying to be serious for once. Well… not too serious, but I'm a little happy that she begins to actively do her work instead of needing both me and Saturn to force her to do so. She is making more sense often and is taking her role as a goddess seriously, almost as if some weight is lifted off her shoulders. I wonder what it could be…

As per usual today, the two of us will tour around the city to talk with the people and answer their concerns, if there are any. I'm currently cooking breakfast while onee-chan gets ready. The temperature is starting to increase, so onee-chan stops wearing her one piece parka and wears her one piece jersey instead. Currently, she's in the bathroom because she just woke up a few moments ago. She sets her alarm to the maximum sound level to ensure that she will wake up. However, it pretty much ensures that everyone in the basilicom's living area, meaning Histy and the maids, could hear everything.

Today's breakfast is blueberry pancakes, onee-chan's personal favourite. She will bribe me to cook this every day, but ever since Saturn says that we have to stay healthy… let's just say that sometimes we have to force onee-chan to finish everything even though she doesn't like it. We might be immortal and won't die from sickness, we can still fall ill, as demonstrated by onee-chan when she gets food poisoning from her expired pudding. Compa has to stay here to ensure that onee-chan gets enough rest to recover, while Saturn was shaking her head because she's dragged away from her home to work during her break week because onee-chan has to do something stupid, at least that's what she says.

I also noticed that onee-chan is depending on me less and less, while Noire visits us whenever she has some free time to hang out with onee-chan. I… I actually start to feel a little lonely whenever onee-chan ditches whatever she's doing, including some sister time with me, to hang out with Noire. Uni accompanies me if she happens to be around, so it's a little bit bearable sometimes. Still, Uni is not onee-chan… she's my best friend and my first friend from outside Planeptune.

Onee-chan arrives and soon, the two of us sit down to enjoy breakfast before we head downtown. Normally, it will be just me, but onee-chan has been accompanying me nowadays. She is trying very hard to act like a proper older sister that occasionally cause the citizens to laugh a little because of… well, our physical age. After all, onee-chan doesn't look the part until she transforms into Purple Heart. Still, it shows just how close onee-chan is to the hearts of the people. Best of both worlds, as Noire often says. Her child like human form gives her an easier time to interact with children and the elderly, while the mature Purple Heart wins over adults and teenagers with ease.

Then again, there is the little experiment that Gust and Saturn did on onee-chan that causes Purple Heart's maturity to be present even when onee-chan is still in human form and causes Purple Heart to be capable of acting like a teenager. The first time I saw that happen back then, it was a huge shock for me. Initially, onee-chan was desperate to reset herself, but when she realized that there is no way to fix that, she gave up and chose to just let it slide.

**[Planeptune – Downtown]**

After travelling around town for a while, onee-chan stops at her favourite dessert shop to buy a slice of tiramisu cake and some tea to go along with it. Normally onee-chan would just buy the entire cake and eat it without thinking twice, but nowadays, she always purchased a slice and with some tea to go along with it. This is another habit that she picked up from Noire who often invites us for some tea and cakes whenever we happened to be in Lastation.

I have been taking care of her all my life that having a cool and mature onee-chan is a really refreshing experience… even if I regret it a little, somewhat. I miss the onee-chan that always needs me to cover for her while she's off slacking somewhere.

"What's the matter, Gear?" onee-chan asks. "You've been spacing out. You're not even eating your cheesecake."

"Oh yes, sorry," I reply. "I'm just wondering on something."

"Oh? It's not normal for you to be spaced out like this," onee-chan says as she takes another large bite.

"It's just… it feels as if you're drifting further and further away from me," I reply as I use my fork to eat a piece of the cake slice I ordered. "I thought… you promised that you'll never leave me behind anymore…"

"Eh… about that…" onee-chan immediately looks upwards to the right corner of her eyes. Yes, she really is hiding something. I should ask Saturn about it, I guess. She is quite perceptive, like Blanc-san, so she should be able to know. Blanc-san will be busy since the summer expo is approaching, so my best bet will be Saturn, even if she'll just give me minor hints instead. A minor hint or two is much better than absolutely nothing at all. I will do that tomorrow.

The remainder of the day is spent talking with the citizens before we have dinner at the ramen restaurant that I went with Uni previously. Onee-chan didn't know about it, so she is excited to try out the special. Of course, being onee-chan means she adds every single bonus toppings she can get her hands on and… well… her ramen ended up being very special. In the very least, she's enjoying them. Exactly as I did, onee-chan tries to eat a lot in one go and ended up having to take them out of her mouth because it is just too hot.

**[Gamindustri – Saturn's Retreat]**

I arrive at Saturn's mansion rather early to find her up and about, cleaning her garden and pruning the trees. She's content with living a simple life like this and to help out the others despite being a goddess. She can easily fight my sister for dominance over Planeptune or even set up her own nation. Not to mention, despite her shortcomings, the other goddesses have a reason to like her. Her only weakness is that she is not much of a leader and can be indecisive at times. In other words, she prefers following than leading.

The only thing that makes her a goddess is that she has discipline, maturity and experience. Noire mentions that Neptune is better off leaving Planeptune in Saturn's care so that I won't be as busy as I am… or was. I mentally slap myself before I get lost in my thoughts again to reaffirm that I am not leaving without an answer from her.

"Saturn-nee!"

"Oh? If it isn't Nepgear," Saturn halts in mid-air and lands slowly. "What brings you here so early? Or rather… I didn't receive word that you're coming over at all."

"Yes, I didn't plan this visit ahead of time. I have something to discuss with you. It's rather urgent."

"What could be so urgent?" she reverts. "In any case, let's go back in the house. I can continue gardening later."

Saturn leads me to the living room before I sit on one of the couches around the now unused 'fireplace'. After pouring a cup of tea for the two of us and serving some snacks, she sits down and rests for a while before she asks why I gave her a sudden visit like this.

"Oh… it's about my onee-chan."

"Is Neptune slacking off again or something? The last time I heard, she's trying very hard to really act like an older sister," Saturn says before she takes a bite of the redcurrant puffs that she often bakes in her spare time.

"That's not the problem," I reply.

"Then… what is the problem?" she asks.

"She's… well… what's the right word in this situation…" I struggle to complete my sentence. I'm not sure how to describe it as accurately as I can. "Becoming more and more distant at times."

"Becoming distant?" she asks again. "What do you mean?"

"It's as if she's… drifting further and further away from me," I sigh. "Normally onee-chan likes spending time with me whenever I'm free. Nowadays… she always goes out with Noire-san if she has the chance. She only spends time with me when Noire-san isn't around."

After I finish my sentence, Saturn actually starts smirking. Give her a few more minutes and she starts laughing for a good while before she calms herself down and stops. She clears her throat before looking at me eye to eye and relaxes.

"Oh… so that's what this is all about?" Saturn asks again. When I nod, she smiles. "Why don't you just ask the person in question?"

"You mean ask Noire-san?" I ask back before I realize how much of an uphill task I'm doing if I am to go and ask the 'source of the problem' directly. "No wait… I can't…"

"Yes you can, to be honest," Saturn smiles. "You're worried about your sister. I'm sure that Noire-san will understand your situation and explain to you accordingly."

"You sounded like you know something," I eyed her suspiciously. "What has onee-chan been doing behind my back?"

"Just ask Noire. She knows all of the details," Saturn avoids my question, but her face tells me that that's all she knows. "I'm sure she'll know why Neptune is acting that way more than I am."

"I hope so, but Noire-san is a busy lady," I reply.

"Don't worry. Everyone likes being around you, Nepgear," Saturn places an encouraging hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure she will make a free timeslot so that you can come over and talk with her."

"Okay. I'll try."

**[Lastation – Basilicom]**

Days later, I find myself visiting Lastation's Basilicom. Noire had scheduled the day free so that she can have a chat with me. She seems a little bit reluctant when I say that Neptune won't be coming, but still agrees to schedule the meeting nonetheless. Uni is out for an errand, so I have enough time to discuss with Noire-san just what is wrong with my sister.

"Nepgear?" a familiar voice asks. It's Arc, the black sisters' bodyguard. I am still having a hard time believing that her left arm and her red right eye are artificial. Trust Noire and Uni to make something future proof like that for their most trusted soldier.

"Oh, Arc-san, good morning," I greet the veteran soldier.

"Good morning to you too. If you're looking for Uni, she already left," she replies.

"Oh, I'm here to chat with Noire-san," I explain.

"With Noire-sama?" Arc asks back before shaking her head slowly. "I guess that's none of my business. Go on then. It would be rude if I was the reason you were late."

After meeting Noire in her office, we head straight to her own room, which is located right next to Uni's. Whenever onee-chan drags me here to play, I will be spending time with Uni in her room, playing that Extreme Versus game that she has on the console Noire designed.

"Listen, Nepgear. Whatever is about to leave my mouth must not leave this room. At all," Noire warns me as she closes the windows and locks the door. "I'm a little afraid of the consequences if the entire Gamindustri knows about it."

"What consequences?"

"I'll tell you about it soon enough," she says. "After I finish my tale, feel free to ask any questions."

So… Noire-san goes on to explain, with her explanation starting from the point before I became onee-chan's candidate. Apparently, Noire-san had loved onee-chan over such a long period of time. So… all those times I realize that she's getting too close to onee-chan… is because she's trying to convey her feelings? But… I thought that Noire-san saw Planeptune as her greatest rival? Well, speculating won't answer anything and since Noire told me to ask anything that I have in mind, I decided to go ahead and shoot.

"Oh that… it was just a front," Noire admits. "I cannot even bear to lift my sword against your sister, you know…"

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes. Everything I've done is so that Neptune will notice me and find me worthy of being her… well… lover," Noire says. "Except that I didn't know she had been waiting for me to be the one to confess that I like her."

"So… the reason why I feel that she's going further and further away from me is because…"

"Because I finally decide to stop wasting time and just shoot," Noire finishes my sentence. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable, future sister-in-law, but…"

"It's okay, I understand," I smile at my future sister-in-law. "I always knew that this day will come… everyone has to find that someone special in life."

"You just never expected it to be this soon, huh?" Noire asks.

"Yeah… sort off," I sigh. So… this is why onee-chan's avoiding my questions yesterday. She didn't want the word to go around that she's going out with Noire and ended up destabilizing Gamindustri that has already revolved around four nations for quite a long time. I should have known better. "Anyway, Noire-san, you don't need to apologize. In fact, I'm glad that you're supporting my sister."

Noire looks stunned for a few seconds since I think I don't respond the way she thinks I will before her usual smile returns to her face and nods confidently.

"Don't worry. You can trust me to take care of your sister in your place," Noire says reassuringly. "I still have a lot of things to plan out, so the official announcement will have to wait until the right time, lest I cause a lot of things to happen."

"Don't worry, Noire-san. You can count on me to keep a secret," I reply.

Before I could say anything else, however, Noire picks up a phone call from onee-chan. It seems that she's done with her work rather early and is coming over for a visit. Noire lets her know that I happened to be here and thus agrees to take us out for dinner. Noire seems really happy whenever she talks about onee-chan… love, huh? I wonder if I can find it myself.

"Neptune is coming over for dinner," Noire says as she ends the call. "Let's head downtown and buy something for tonight. I'll be sure to come up with something special for the four of us."

I nod and the two of us leave Noire's room to head to Lastation's downtown area.

**[Lastation – Downtown]**

Instead of supermarkets, Noire leads me to what others would call a 'hypermarket'. Everything is available here of varying qualities, since they're located in the middle of Lastation. Of course, Noire knows what to get for tonight's dinner. Knowing onee-chan, she enjoys eating Noire's spaghetti dishes. While Noire head to buy ingredients for meat and sauce, I go for the shelves where they put the spaghetti at and pick the one that onee-chan likes the most. After that is done, I join Noire at the meat and help to carry the basket while Noire selects the finest ingredients that the hypermarket offers.

Noire and Saturn … they are pretty much the closest person that I have to a real older sister until onee-chan decides to act fittingly for her position as elder sister and the patron goddess of Planeptune instead of needing me to cover her most of the time. Still, I don't understand why Noire needs to buy so many ingredients for tonight. Aren't we just making spaghetti for everyone? I'm sure the basilicom has enough of the remaining ingredients.

"Oh, Saturn called earlier on. Apparently Neptune invited her over as well because your sister considers her as family too, you know," Noire smiles. "As for Uni, she says she'll be a little late, so she can't help with cooking."

"Don't worry, I'll help."

"Thank you, Nepgear. At the very least, you're responsible, unlike your older sister," Noire replies. "That is why I'm sure that she'll need my help the moment you find that special someone. I intend to prevent that before it even happens."

"It's the least I can do."

With our shopping done, we return back to the basilicom to find Saturn in the living room, relaxing. Trust her to always arrive early. Well, her arrival pretty much completes the cooking party Noire sets up. She will primarily do everything on her own, while our job is just to take over tasks that she's doing in case her attention is needed elsewhere. It's like the TV show that onee-chan likes to watch whenever we're in Lowee.

"Just what are you making, Noire? It's abnormal for you to be accepting assistants like this," even Saturn knows that Noire is very independent and often encourages Uni to do the same. Whenever Noire asks for help, it is normally done in private because she claims that it is a weakness, despite the amount of times we try to tell her that it isn't.

"Well… I suppose since I'm going to break the news to Uni, I might as well do some celebration," Noire smiles. "I've prepared some ice cream cake, so we'll have that after dinner for dessert. As for the appetizer…"

"We'll just keep it simple," I suggest. "What about soup?"

"Hmm… I think I have enough ingredients," Noire says as she browses the pantry followed by the fridge. "Well, we have some fresh mushrooms, so mushroom soup it is."

After waiting for a while for the ingredients to defrost, the three of us then get to work on tonight's dinner. Noire is making five different kinds of spaghetti dishes for the five of us. I'm impressed at the way she handles everything in the kitchen. She's even able to continue where we left off whenever she needs to take over our job so that we can do something else. She really does live up to her catchphrase and is flawless in everything she does.

I must admit that I was a little insecure and jealous upon learning that onee-chan's leaning on Noire for support now, especially because of the fact that I spent my entire life, up till this point, supporting her. Well, why don't I look at the bright side on things? I guess I can use the time in which onee-chan is hanging out with Noire to solve another problem that I currently have to deal with.

Recently, Uni started to behave oddly. Whenever I get too close or get in a physical contact with her, she'll go as red as a tomato and start stuttering, a sharp contrast of the Uni I know the first time I met her back a year ago. The Uni back then is quite similar to Noire, except that she's a little insecure inside, just like I am. The Uni now is… completely different. While we're no longer insecure thanks to our experiences of working together while our onee-chan is held captive, she looks uncomfortable with about everything we do together.

Whenever we're hanging out, usually Uni will take the lead and drag me almost everywhere she wants to go. Nowadays, she's silent and is constantly blushing. Whenever she speaks up, she will stutter. Quite a few times, I could have sworn that I see smoke trails from her head. I thought only Vert experiences overheating whenever she had too much game to play and too little break time.

"Onee-chan, I'm home."

"Welcome home, Uni. I'm a little busy at the moment, so take a short break until dinner is ready."

"Okay."

Looks like Uni already returned home. As much as I want to go outside and greet her, I have to help Noire with cooking tonight's dinner. With my task of boiling the spaghetti done, I move on to help Noire with the sauce while Saturn takes over the job of preparing the soup. Afterwards, I moved on and made little slits on the sausages we just purchased earlier today and placing them inside the deep fryer. Since the deep fryer uses a timer, I can do other things in the mean time, like helping Saturn with the soup.

"Whoo! I hope I'm not late for dinner."

"Neptune-san? You're having dinner with us?"

"Gear and Saturn are here, so why not?"

"G-gear is here?!"

There we go again. She starts stuttering the moment she sees me or hears my name being mentioned by someone else. She might be able to control it after a while, but she will starts blushing as red as a tomato whenever I get too close.

"Of course she's here. She has something important to talk to your sister, you know."

Well, that's onee-chan for you. She's always direct and honest whenever she isn't transformed.

Now that the soup is done and Noire is satisfied with the taste, we move on to cook the spaghetti proper after leaving the soup to cool off slightly and stay warm. Onee-chan is getting ketchup spaghetti with some meatballs, so I fried Noire's homemade meatballs while Saturn prepares the sauce. Noire handles all the cooking before she places them in the pre-heated oven to keep it warm and fresh while we cook the remaining four. Noire's spaghetti is carbonara, yet another flavour that onee-chan likes. Uni's spaghetti is covered in melted mozzarella cheese and bacon slices. Mine is simple, just requiring parmesan cheese and some butter before I add in shrimp and scallops into the mix. Saturn's spaghetti is the simplest dish to make, so Noire made hers last. Just some garlic, salt, pepper and dried chilli flakes with the sausages I fried earlier added to the mix.

With cooking done, Noire and Saturn help to serve the dishes while I seat myself next to Uni, who immediately starts turning red the moment I place my hand on her shoulder.

"Hi, Uni. How's work today?" I ask, trying to start a conversation since Uni is keeping quiet as she eats her soup.

"I-it's fine, really. Nothing special… just… f-factory inspections to ensure that t-they're obliging to the standards o-onee-chan set," Uni replies.

"I see. You know, I'm really interested in seeing you go about your day in weekdays," I smile, causing her to turn slightly redder. "I'll do that one of these days."

"W-why? I d-didn't do anything special…"

"Well, you already saw how I go about during that time when you switch positions with onee-chan," I insist. "It's only fair that I get to see yours too."

"I-if you insist…"

Dinner goes on as normal after a while when Uni's slightly pale complexion returns to her face and no longer stutters. When we're done with our main course, Noire and onee-chan announces to everyone that they are going out, catching Uni off-guard and causing her to nearly do a spit-take.

"Really?" Uni looks at Noire disbelievingly.

"Well… the news isn't official yet. In fact, no one else besides the five of us here knows. Not even Kei," Noire says as she let Neptune sit on her lap. Onee-chan looks very happy, so I'm happy for her. "That and I don't know what actually happens when two goddesses of two different nations actually get married."

"I doubt anyone will want to break the four nations de facto for now," Saturn finally speaks up after being a listener during the entire dinner time. "In the event that Kei winds up knowing, the best way for you, Noire, will be to announce to the world that you will be taking Neptune's hand in marriage, but while your term as a goddess continues, you'll still put your nation's needs above your own."

"Sounds like a plan," Noire nodded.

"Or you can always just move to Planeptune and work from there, you know," onee-chan voices her disagreement. "With our two nation's technological advancements, it shouldn't be too hard to come up with something to give the illusion that you're always in Lastation when you are actually not."

"What do you mean?" Saturn asks. "Illusions will get dispelled if you get too close."

"I mean some teleporter, you know," Neptune sighed. "That way, Uni and Noire can just move to my basilicom and stay there. They can just teleport over to Lastation during weekdays to save travelling time and such."

"That's a pretty good idea, to be honest. I'm surprised that you actually thought about it," Noire said.

"It's feasible, especially now that Kei is no longer working in the basilicom full time," Saturn nods. "It might be a difficult road ahead, but I'm sure that your love will pull you through."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Noire smiles.

"Yeah, she needs that."

"Why you little!" Noire makes an angry smile followed by pinching onee-chan on both cheeks and pulling.

I can feel Uni's stare on me, but when I turn to face her, she looks elsewhere and pretends that she hasn't been doing that. Since Saturn is here, I should be able to ask her again for some pointers. Noire and Saturn head to the kitchen to take out the ice cream cake. Onee-chan has three servings to herself, as expected, while everyone eats one slice.

"Since it's already late, why don't we stay over?" onee-chan asks me and Saturn after she's done with her share. "We don't have any work tomorrow anyways."

"I don't mind. But I'll have to give you lovebirds some time alone in your nest," Saturn replies, causing both Noire and onee-chan to become redder when they hear her comment. "I'll be taking the guest room tonight, I guess."

She leaves the living room quietly, so I move and join Uni at the couch. She's been keeping quiet for a very long time so I'm a little unsure of what to say to her. Maybe I can ask her what's wrong?

"Hey, Uni-chan?" I ask. Doing so made me place my left hand on her right thigh, causing her to turn as red as a tomato again.

"W-what is it, N-Nepgear?" she asks.

"Is there something wrong with you? You normally don't act like this," I ask back.

"Nothing is wrong. I'm fine," Uni denies. Saying "I'm fine" already shows that she's lying. Uni is not fine and I intend to get to the bottom of this, as her best friend. Seeing her all depressed like this is really affecting me now.

"If you're fine, let's take a bath together later," I suggest. After a while of refusing to accept my conditions and my repetitive pestering, she agrees. Another thing that is similar between onee-chan and I. Whenever our minds are made up, there's no backing down and we will do whatever it takes to get what we want. That request shocks Uni a little, but she agrees nonetheless. Noire asks if the four of us wants to take bath together, so Uni escapes my interrogation by agreeing. In the mean time, I head to find Saturn in the guest room. Bath is not due in half an hour's time, since onee-chan wants to have some time alone with Noire, so I think I should be able to chat with Saturn until then.

She's chatting with Vert and Blanc over the conference phone. I can hear the ruckus the twins make in the background as I knock the door and open it slowly so as to not interrupt Saturn. She hears and knows I'm coming in without turning around, though.

"Well I suppose that they have our blessings. Oh, and don't worry. We will keep our mouths shut."

"I'm more worried about you, thunder tits. You're the one who often spill out secrets by mistake when your guard is down."

"Don't worry, Blanc. I assure you that no one will find out about it until they're ready to announce it to the world."

"It's about time too, dammit. It hurts and irritates me to even look at them for the past few months."

"Well, I'm just glad that they finally told each other their feelings."

"We are all glad. Oh and Saturn… looks like you have a guest."

"I know. I'm ending the call now."

"Be seeing you soon."

"Bye."

After closing the phone, she turns around and smiles at me.

"Is there something you want, Nepgear?" she asks.

"Yes. This time, it's about Uni," I answer.

"Uni, huh?" she giggles slightly before she nods. "What is your concern this time?"

"Well…"

I explain everything that I have taken into account about Uni's strange behaviour to her. Throughout the explanation, she spends some time to think and nods every once in a while before finally laughing slightly as my explanation ends. As usual, I suspect she knows something and she isn't revealing it to me.

"So that's what's wrong with her huh?" Saturn nods twice before she laughs again. It seems she's genuine about it, this time. Could it be that she suspects something and is just unsure of what she's doing. "I only can say that you're the source and the solution to her problems, Gear."

"Huh?" again with the cryptic clues. That is the only part about her that I dislike, even if just a little. Ever since she recovered her memories, Saturn stops advising and instead gave our party clues similar to this one, with the exception of when we're about to choose between getting a powerful weapon or the advice of a past goddess. "What do you mean by that?"

"Let's just say that Uni is sick… well, she's not feeling well, that is," Saturn smiles. "She's suffering from an illness that no medicine can cure."

"Uni is not feeling well? Then… why is she forcing herself to work? She should stay home and rest!" I protest. "I'll go and tell her now!"

"Now wait just a minute here."

I was about to run out of the guest room when Saturn grabs my hand and didn't let go. She drags me back to the couch near the balcony and forces me to sit down before she retreats to sit at the corner of her bed, and sighs.

"Gear, Gear, Gear. What am I going to do with you?" Saturn shakes her head. "Uni's sickness is so weird that it isn't so easily cured."

"That means… she's in trouble right? I've got to help her!" I reply.

"The only way you can help her is to just continue being yourself," Saturn says. "The sickness needs to be at its last stages before it is cured and there is no other way you can help."

"But…"

"Trust me on this, will you? Or are you that dense that you haven't noticed what kind of sickness is affecting Uni right now?" Saturn asks, her voice actually regaining her usual stern tone that she uses when she's either angry or in battle. When I shake my head, she sighs. "I guess you really are that dense. In any case, that's all I can help."

With that in mind, I leave Saturn's room to join onee-chan and the black sisters in the bathroom. I ask Saturn if he wants to come along but she tells me that she'll use the shower in the guest room instead. Uni looks extremely red inside the bathroom, especially with our onee-chan already behaving like a married couple. I wonder what she's thinking. Since Saturn refuses to tell me everything, I'll have to search on the internep tonight. I normally won't do this because it is always not a good idea, but anything goes since I'm desperate to help Uni to get over this… 'illness no medicine can cure' that is mentioned by Saturn.

As usual, I'm staying in Uni's room just like whenever onee-chan drags me here to play. She shows visible discomfort this time as we lie on her bed. The first few times I sleep here, Uni has to prepare a futon for me. She has since bought a bigger bed to accommodate the two of us with the reason that a candidate should not be sleeping on the floor. Uni falls asleep soon enough, so I got up and position myself so that the light emanating from my N-Gear doesn't shine directly at her face and begin browsing.

It didn't take too long for me to search just what kind of illness is affecting Uni so bad that she no longer acts like her usual self. Half an hour worth of research indicates that Uni is in love… in love!? Wait a minute… ah… come to think about it… now that I go through the facts one more time, it seems that yes, Uni is in love. As I try to decipher who Uni is in love with, I started thinking on how she reacts whenever I'm around and when I get into physical contact with her. She's in love… with me? I… I'm flattered, really… I wonder how long she has kept her feelings bottled up like that.

Now that I think about our past experiences together, it all fits in nicely. I do return her feelings, don't I? I recall the first time we met, when I cried because she refused to hang out with me. When Ram and Rom do that, I am not bothered by it at all in the slightest. When Uni hurts my feelings, either intentionally or unintentionally, I feel like I am about to cry. When Uni calls my name, sometimes my heart skips a beat. I'm always happy whenever Uni comes around to hang out with me.

So, the feeling is mutual, after all. I brushed my hand past her fringe, causing her to mumble in her sleep before grabbing my hand and placing it against her cheek. I'm sure if she wakes up realizing what she just did in her sleep will get her all flustered and nervous again. Well… no harm teasing her further to get her to confess faster. At least, I hope teasing her will get her to do that.

I lie down on Uni's bed once again and pull her into a tight hug, as if she's a hug pillow, and kiss her on the cheek before I whisper softly into her ears, "I'll be waiting for you, Uni."

This act causes her to fidget a little before she relaxes in my arms. I can only smile at Uni's calm sleeping face, a sharp contrast to when she's awake. I think… if I can… I really want to remain in this position forever. For now, however, I'm content with letting things go as it is. Still, I'm surprised that my special someone in life actually is always by my side all along. Onee-chan already found hers… and today, I find mine. It doesn't take too long for me to doze off as well, now that it is past midnight. Hopefully, I'll wake up tomorrow to Uni's voice and one of her random bursts of violence because she's embarrassed that we're sleeping in this position.

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**That marks the end of this week's one shot. Two more chapters to go until this fic will be on hold until i finish Victory proper. not so sure if i want to continue writing, though.**

**Str1k3N01r out.**


	7. Neptune - The Misadventures of Neptune

**Str1k3N01r here, back with your weekly updates. i know i'm a bit late due to some... unforseen circumstances, but I'm here with the (currently) second last installment for this fic. The current chapter is going to deal with our little pudding fiend as she goes around during one day in her daily life. I should stop here because I know most of the readers skip this segment anyway. Disclaimer: i only own OCs**

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**The Misadventures of Neptune**

**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

"Onee-chan! You have to work!"

"But I don't wanna! Anything but work! Not today!"

"No means no, onee-chan! The faster we get this work done, the faster you can go back to slacking off."

"Okay."

"Eh?"

"I said okay. I'll do my job. I'm the older sister. I'll have to be responsible and this and that…"

That totally caught Gear off guard, just as I planned. Well, I can always take an easy job and run off, as per usual and they will be none the wiser. Saturn is here to make up for me slacking anyway, so at the start of the month, I always have one week of holidays. This time, however, Gear is rather stubborn in trying to get me to work. She's been in my room ever since my alarm clock rang a few minutes earlier and we've been playing a game of tug-of-war with my blanket ever since. I might look younger, but I'm still stronger than my little sister. Now that I've agreed to get up, maybe I should take a bath. Gear was still wearing her pyjamas when she wakes me up, so I think I'll join her in the bathroom.

After quick shower and having some waffles for breakfast, Saturn, the goddess of another Planeptune, briefs me on what I'm supposed to do today before I set off to patrol around my nation… well that's what she think I'll do. Nothing stops me from playing hookie once I leave the basilicom anyways.

"Good luck," Saturn smiles as she sees me off. The moment she turns around and returns back inside the basilicom, I look at my folded to-do list that Saturn handed me before ignoring and stuffing it in my dress pocket before promptly running in the opposite direction of where I'm supposed to go.

**[Planeptune – Downtown]**

This area of downtown Planeptune happens to house Planeptune's Strip Mall. I often come here whenever I am free from work, which is actually almost every day, because this is where they sell very delicious snacks. Unfortunately, my plan didn't come to fruition… because IF is here. I thought she had work today? It's abnormal for her to be spotted around this area. Not to mention, during office hours? She rarely skips work, although the clothes she wears tells me that she's not here to skip work… rather, her work for today is here.

I am unable to make heads or tails of the situation, so I blend in with the surroundings and try to get as close as I can. IF has the tendency to pick up calls from her teammates, so maybe I'll get a clue or two when she gets a phone call. Currently, though, she's doing nothing but playing games on her cell as she patrols around the building. Still… whenever I make sudden movement, she will stop sucking on her lollipop and look around. After being alert for a while, she'll stop and look on her cell again.

"Seriously… what makes her think Nep will head here anyways?"

So someone predicted my moves and hired her services? I wonder… wait a minute… who else could have done that other than Histy or Saturn. Ah well, all I need to do is to avoid getting caught by IF and everything is all good. At around that moment, IF's phone rings.

"Hello? Yeah. It's me. Neptune? Nah, I haven't seen her anywhere nearby. Don't worry. If I find her, I'll be sure to not go lax on her again. You can trust me."

She's really out to get me. I wonder if that's Histy or Saturn on the other side of the line. In the mean time, I'm here to collect my croquette from the usual store I normally go to grab a snack from. Since IF is patrolling in clockwise direction, it will be wise to stay close enough so that she's within my line of sight, but she doesn't know that I'm here either. If she does find out… I'll be in one big trouble. The last time this happened, she went easy on me and let me have my way.

IF turns around the corner and disappears when the store is within my line of sight, prompting me to dash through the crowd and make a purchase of the special croquettes that are always sold during this time of day before sitting down on the bench and eating. It tastes better today. I wonder if it's because of it is my prize today since the guild places a bounty on my head… well… sort of. I was about to leave when I bumped into Compa.

"Nep-Nep?"

Normally, meeting Compa is a huge relief because of how caring she is compared to IF. Today… is a big exception. She's carrying her syringe weapon in town, and it's loaded with her sleeping medicine. One can only guess what it is going to be used for.

"Ai-chan! Nep-Nep is here!" Compa said. She has the wireless headset from Lastation!? This is bad! IF is going to find out!

Instead of waiting, I begin to run away from Compa while dodging her bullets whenever she can get a clear shot. Transforming is not a good idea because I will only increase her chances of hitting me. Compa is not good at sports given how clumsy she is. The biggest threat right now is still IF. With her speed and Compa throwing off my running rhythm, she'll catch up to me any moment.

In order to make it difficult for them to catch up, I keep making random turns whenever I can to lose Compa and hopefully IF as well. Compa won't be able to fire anymore 'bullets' as long as I'm not within her line of sight. As for IF, I'll have to find an area where I can transform and fly off. When they run past the dead end that I accidentally turn into, I relax a little and transform to Purple Heart so that I can escape into another part of Planeptune.

Landing in another dead end to revert and go out, I proceed to go on my way accordingly for around one hour before I hear Compa apologizing to someone she accidentally bumped with. They're here already!?

"Nep-Nep! Wait!"

"Do your job and we'll stop hounding you."

This is beginning to be a chore. No matter where I fly off to, a guild member or two will start pursuing me or letting my two friends know where I am. The chase continues endlessly inside Planeptune that even I'm at my limits after a few hours of escaping that I dive into a fast food restaurant to catch a short breather and buy myself a drink. So… Histy or Saturn mobilized all of Planeptune to make sure that I'm working huh… I guess I'll see if I can wander around without meeting any of the guild agents. Times like this makes me wish I have that… eagle sense thingy from the Assassinate Creed games that Noire always plays in her free time.

I leave the fast food restaurant and blend in with the crowd to make sure that the guild agents are unable to find me. Hey, at the very least, the things I picked up from watching Noire playing that game helps! It's a little hard when the crowd isn't moving in the direction that I want to move to, but other than that, I manage to move around without…

"Found you, my lady!"

Ah crap! There is a guild agent in this group! She pins me down after catching me unaware and locks my arms so that I cannot break free.

"Now hold still and wait for IF to come here and pick you up."

Like I'm going to just let her catch me! I willed my body to transform, loosening her hold over me and repelling her backwards even though I have yet to conjure my processor units. Before she can retaliate, I soar and leave Planeptune. The cat and mouse game that the guild agents plays with me really tires me out and I could use somewhere to R and R. Not to mention that it is exactly midday now, so I have to go and find something to eat as soon as I land in Lowee.

**[Lowee]**

After a few minutes of flight, I finally arrive in Lowee. First things first, though. Time to grab some food. Lowee is very famous for their desserts, after all. Nothing beats something sweet after being on the run for the past few hours. I'm sure that Histy won't pursue me this far. First stop, the shopping district! I locate the crepe stand that Gear often goes whenever we're on errand in Lowee and sit on one of the chairs that the lady prepares outside of her cart.

"Heya!" I greet her. Well, given how much Gear and I are always buying her crepes whenever we go to Lowee, she knows us on a personal level. She already knows what my favourite kind of crepe is, so all I need to do is just to pay her for the food and she'll do it automatically.

"My my, what brings Neptune-sama here again today?" she asks. "I thought you were on the run or something."

"On the run?" I ask. That question makes the time spent waiting rather dreadful.

"Precisely. On the run," she replies as she places my milk chocolate and banana crepe on the plate and serving it. "Lowee's candidates were around here rather early in the morning and they pasted this on my cart."

She hands me a rolled up piece of paper… with a hand drawn poster of me and a bounty on my head. I sigh and roll back the poster before returning it to her. So… Histy even predicted that I will escape into Lowee? I finish my crepe quietly as I form scenarios of what that might happen in Lowee. So far, no guild member that bypassed me raised the alarm or something… in fact, they just look at me and the posters pasted before continuing on their way.

I thank her for the meal before I cover my head with the hood part of my jacket and wander around aimlessly. At least this should prevent me from being discovered immediately by anyone that is after the bounty on my head, even if the reward isn't that much. Ah well, whatever works for them. I'm just going to enjoy my day here… although I wish I went to Lastation first. I can use a hot pack or two because Lowee's climate is quite… harsh for this kind of clothes. It doesn't affect me while I am transformed, though.

I wonder if Blanc is working today. I could use another round of that 'Olympic Games' that we co-developed for our consoles. Now that I think about it again… going to Lowee's basilicom is a bad idea. If the twins are running around Lowee pasting wanted posters… going there will be like putting my head into the lion's mouth. I leave the mall and head into Lowee's city centre, where there are very few people right now since it is still lunch time and everyone is staying either at home, at their workplace or the mall for some warm food.

"Neptune-chan sighted!"

I quickly turn around the moment I hear that voice to see Ram and Rom. They're already transformed too. Ram points her staff at me while Rom holds hers closer to herself. Looks like they are out to get me after all.

"Neptune-san, we're sorry," Rom says before casting a high level ice spell which is aimed not at me, but at my ankles. Blanc uses that very same spell against me when we're sparring a few weeks ago, so I jump away and avoided having the icy rings to freeze my legs to the ground.

"Mabufudyne!" Ram cries out as eight ice crystals forms behind her before they are fired in pairs at me. Thankfully, they don't have any homing property whatsoever and that allows me to dodge them easily.

"Hah! You missed!" I pulled a quick raspberry on the twins, only to retract my tongue almost immediately since it's chilly out here.

"No. it is all according to plan."

That calm voice… Blanc?! Something heavy hit the back of my head and everything blacks out. I come to and find myself in a bed inside Lowee's basilicom with a note on the side of my head. After I sit up on the bed, I pick the note up and read it. It says…

'So you're really using my nation as hideout for you to skip work. Why don't we play a game then? Atlus has taken the liberty of placing you within a dungeon modelled after my basilicom. You have 30 minutes to escape after you wake up, or Atlus will give you a one way ticket back to your basilicom.'

No time to get angry over this, though. I only have a limited amount of time to get out of this… 'Dungeon' before I get sent back home for another round of 'disciplinary action' with Histy and Saturn. There are ink-like masses of imaginary monsters that are summoned to bar my path, but I continuously move forward until I reach a three-way junction.

"When in doubt… head left," I say before I take a left turn. After spending 15 minutes trapped inside, I begin to wonder if there's really a way out. I should've done this by leaving a trail of thread like the ancient heroine who heads inside the maze to kill the raging bull of destruction instead of doing it by instinct. Well, whatever. I'm sure the exit won't be too far ahead. I come to another junction, but this time, I decided that I'll be heading right.

With five minutes remaining, I make a mad dash for the exit before finally leaving the artificial dungeon… and I exited from the television and straight into the basilicom's living room. Atlus is inside, clapping softly.

"C'est Magnifique, Neptune-sama," she smiles. "None of the others manage to escape within half an hour and I have to enter overtime. On the other hand, you manage to escape a few seconds before the thirty minute mark. I guess you really are the strongest among the four."

"What do you…"

"The dungeon is designed to make it much harder for you to move and each movement will tire you out extremely fast," Atlus says as she undoes her spell on the television. "Well, you should get going. The twins will be looking for you again because they wanted the prize that someone offers them for capturing you."

"What exactly is the prize?" I ask. I'm sure that it won't be that bad. Keeping the twins company sure beats being on the run for the entire day.

"Blanc-sama would let them have their way with you."

Hearing that got me thinking again. I'm fine with Rom because she's quiet and will rather read than disturb me. Ram, on the other hand, can barely control herself when it comes to playing with me. The last time when I dropped my guard and just waltzed in Lowee's basilicom, Ram's delayed spells triggered when I walked over the invisible runes that she placed on the ground. Not to mention, somehow she had altered the spell to make sure that it only triggered if I went too close, but not anyone else.

Entering the door that Atlus conjures to make a quick getaway, I find myself in downtown Lowee once again. I head to the crepe cart as quickly as I could before buying the sweet cream one that Saturn likes the most and placing it inside my portable refrigerator. Nepgear makes one for me because of my tendency to bring a lot of snacks wherever I go. After transforming, I head towards the next destination I have in mind, Lastation.

**[Lastation]**

Contrary to what happens in Lowee and Planeptune, my reception in Lastation is so much quieter… no one knows that Noire and I are going out behind everyone's back. After decades of waiting, she finally gathered the courage to confess. It turns out that both of us are really on the same wavelength, except that while she's having trouble confessing, I believed that she will have no trouble confessing. Thus, it became a waiting game until I got tired of waiting and decided to just make the situation perfect for her confession.

Arc, Noire's right hand girl when it comes to military matters, raises her eyebrow slightly when she spots me landing outside the basilicom and reverting. It doesn't take her long to refocus her attention back at the soldiers that are doing some training, though.

"If you're looking for Noire-sama, she's inside her office," Arc speaks without turning around to face me. "Although… I thought you had important work to do today?"

I don't know how to respond to that, to be honest. Looks like Lastation is on high alert too huh? Just how far did Histy go in order to ensure that I do my job? Discarding that thought almost as quickly as it comes, I enter Lastation's basilicom and make a beeline for Noire's office. Noire is inside, asleep on the desk. It seems that she still has the tendency to overwork herself to exhaustion.

"Maybe I should leave," I speak to no one in particular as I look at Noire's peaceful sleeping face. Nepgear does say that whenever she stays at Noire's basilicom overnight she sometimes hear Noire sobbing in the middle of the night. She stopped doing so after she confessed and I returned her feelings, though. Thanks to her work habits, however, we barely see each other even on the weekends. I sigh before I close the door. I was looking forward to spending some time with her too.

I leave the basilicom and head downtown, although I can't shake off the feeling that I'm being constantly watched. Oh right, while I'm here, I might as well help Gear with her parts shopping. I take out the small list and begin to browse shops for them. Actually… this is in order to bribe Gear, so that it will be one less person to nag at me later for skipping work, given that Histy already knows what I'm doing right now. I happen to copy the list that she's planning to buy on her next visit to Lastation, whether voluntarily or getting dragged there by Uni for sparring partner… or as a moving target dummy.

With my shopping done, I place the goods inside my storage device and exit the store, to sense that something is awfully wrong.

"Someone's watching me," I mutter before my instincts screams for me to dodge, so I hop backwards and notice a bullet hitting the area where I was a few seconds ago. I dodge another bullet again and again as I run into the next building when I'm supposed to buy the next set of parts from.

After repeating this for quite a number of times, I notice that whoever that is targeting me stops shooting whenever I get too close to a shop or when I enter a building. I'll have to time my moves, though. Upon entering one of the shops, I encounter Noire's little sister, Uni. She's drinking a cup of cold water and is breathing heavily.

"Uni?" I ask, snapping her to attention after being lost in her thoughts.

"Neptune-san?" she asks before realizing that she's not daydreaming after she rubs her eyes. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Err…"

"Skipping work again…"she eyes me suspiciously. I raise my hands up in defeat. "In any case, someone told me to send you home if I were to see you in Lastation."

"Geh…"

"Or maybe alerting my onee-chan will do," Uni says as she takes her cell phone slowly out of her pocket and begins to dial Noire's number. "She'll give you a very hard disciplinary action if she finds out that you're skipping your duties again."

"Okay, okay! I'll head back home!" I sigh. "There are snipers aiming me from the rooftop, so I can't transform safely."

Uni flipped her cell phone open again, threatening to wake Noire up in order to force me to return home.

"Actually… you don't need to worry too much," Uni smiles. "Getting hit by the bullet will only put you to sleep, so that I can either send you to onee-chan or Nepgear. Either way, it ends in a disciplinary action until you head back to Planeptune and do your work."

Just… how far did Histy go to warn everyone about this?

"At the very least, let me finish my shopping here first," I say. When she's about to protest, I tell her that it's not for me, but for Gear. She reluctantly agrees.

With my shopping done, I leave out of the building. It doesn't take too long for the bullet barrage to begin, forcing me to run in a zigzag pattern instead of running straight because I didn't want to get shot by any of those bullets. This time, it's a little harder because Uni is also taking pot shots at me from the skies while Arc, who has been following me the entire time, is pursuing me from behind, occasionally taking a different route before attempting to corner me to take an unnecessary detour.

After half an hour of playing cat and mouse, Arc tires out and leans to the wall to catch a breather. Now I just need to deal with the snipers and Uni, who's still following me from the skies. With Arc taken out of the picture, however, things get easier for me. Finally I can make a beeline for the harbour area with Uni hot on my tail. There are no snipers in the harbour and Uni decides to give up chasing after me, so I can quickly transform and fly off. Next stop, Leanbox!

**[Leanbox]**

Ugh… I regret coming to Leanbox. Well… kind off. While there is neither wanted poster nor order to send me back home in Leanbox, the effect of the goddess concert from a while back makes it hard for me to move around without attracting any attention whatsoever. The concert is a huge success that it causes three fan clubs to spring to existence. I mean, I'm fine with having a fan club dedicated to little Nepgear and me, but it feels very awkward when I'm around them. They're selling modified replicas of my one-piece parka to gather funds.

They do research on our hobbies too. The last time we were spotted in Leanbox, they tried to get within hugging range to cuddle me and we have to transform in order to escape the mass of rabid fans that have a lot of questions to ask to the real deal. They even sent a few of those… paparazzi people to stalk me in Planeptune. Thankfully, they stopped once I knocked some sense into them. Instead, they sent in requests that I come over to Leanbox in order to be 'interviewed' by the fan club.

Right now, however, I'm being chased by a legion of fans who noticed that I'm here because they see me when I land and revert.

"Neptune-sama!"

"Wait up, Neptune-sama!"

I keep running and making random turns just like what I did earlier today in Planeptune to make sure that I lose the horde of fans that wants to get within hugging distance. The last time that happened, everyone was all over me and it got too uncomfortable. No way I'm willing to let that happen again. After six random turns, the horde finally loses sight of me and I pull my hood up to go past them unnoticed. Since I'm not wearing my parka, they can't recognize me with my hood up and promptly let me pass.

"Neptune-san?"

I turn around to face Leanne, Vert's adopted little sister. Truth to be told, I never expected Vert to be the kind to actually raise a kid responsibly, given her gaming habits. Not to mention that Leanne grew up to be a very different person compared to Vert and Chika, who raised her ever since she's a baby. She's the idol that helps us to record the goddess-candidate duets together with 5pb. and a comrade back during ASIC days.

"Is Vert at home?"

"Yes, she is," Leanne smiles.

"Alright. I guess I'll head there."

However, it is not easy trying to reach the basilicom because the fans are still out hunting for me. Not to mention, some of them have started to recognize me and they resumed their chase. It isn't exactly easy to get rid of an entire group, especially when a few of them can split up and corner me from another direction. Seeing no other choice, I transform while running and fly off to the basilicom. The guards quickly let me pass before reactivating the gates once again, blocking the rabid horde of fans from entering.

Entering the basilicom, I meet up with Vert who is practising for her Razeblue game. Apparently she's still sore after losing to Noire a few times in a row during our last Goddess Meeting at Saturn's Retreat. She's so concentrated on her game that she didn't notice me entering the area. Only after she managed to pull off one of the difficult combos that her characters have, she finally notices that she isn't alone.

"Ara? Neptune? When did you get here?" she asks.

"When you whiffed that combo a bunch of times," I reply as I sit down next to her and pick up the second controller. "Wanna have a round or two?"

"Challenge accepted," Vert says as she ends challenge mode and enters versus mode.

All I need to do is to prevent Vert from killing my puppet and this match is as good as mine! The only thing good about Vert's character is that none of her supers require her character to stand still, which makes it difficult to block. Of course, I must not give her a chance as well. At least, fighting her character is easier than fighting Gear's character.

At the end, our little gaming session extends from being two rounds to become first to five. I won four matches before nearly defeating Vert on the last round of the last set. Unfortunately, Vert chips me to death and clinched the final set for herself.

"You're improving," Vert smiles. "Last time we played, you couldn't even win two rounds."

"Noire's a good teacher," I nod.

After chatting with Vert for a while, I leave the basilicom. Initially, I want to leave on foot, but the guards warn me of potential ambushes from the fans, so I decide to transform and just fly off to my destination. There is a small shop in Leanbox's downtown area that sells something which my sister wants: a new beam saber capacitor. I always wonder why she needs to buy them off other nations when she can easily make one on her own. In fact, all of her beam sabers are customized to fit her perfectly.

I should get some of Leanbox's famous candy apples before I go, so I head to a nearby sweets shop and buy some before enjoying the snack. Where are the fan club people, though? I'm sitting in the open doing nothing but eating candy apples and they have yet to ambush me. I think they're stalking me though. It feels as if I'm being watched. Well, I'm alright with them watching me as long as they don't try anything funny.

As soon as I finish my candy apples, I transform and fly off to return to Planeptune. It's almost dinner time and the last thing I want is to miss on Gear's home-cooked food. I'll just deal with Histy's nagging after dinner is done. Hopefully, with the goods I bring back home, I don't have to deal with Saturn and Nepgear joining Histy to nag at me. Else, this is going to be one long night.

**[Planeptune]**

I open the door to my basilicom quietly. I can smell Nepgear's cooking wafting from the kitchen. Everyone else should be there as well, I guess. I reach the kitchen to see Saturn and Histy chatting while Nepgear makes some rösti for dinner. Mine as a sunny side up egg and a piece of coarse pork sausage. Gear's portion is similar to mine, except that her sausage is garlic pork instead. Histy's are covered with mushroom sauce while Saturn's are given some of Atlus' favourite smoked salmon. Saturn notices me entering and gives me her mischievous smile. Anyway, I give her the crepe I bought in Lowee, which she places in the fridge. Nepgear's parts will have to be placed somewhere in the dining room. Dinner comes first.

They don't talk about me skipping work at all and instead chat about what happened during the time I'm not at the basilicom. I'm not sure if I should join in, so I keep myself quiet throughout the entire time. Before Nepgear serves dessert, however, I cannot hold it back anymore and asks.

"You guys aren't going to punish me?" I ask. I might be a goddess, but with Saturn and Nepgear doing most of the work, I actually fit the position as a candidate better. Sure my work habits have been improving and I've been trying to act like a real goddess ever since Noire and I started going out. This is one of the days where I really don't want to work.

"You did your job correctly. So why did you think you deserve some punishment?" Saturn asks back.

"Today, everything goes according to plan," Histy calmly speaks.

"And all we need to do is to count on onee-chan being onee-chan," Nepgear adds the final blow.

"E-eh?"

"Well to simply put…" Nepgear says. "Just open up the paper that Saturn-nee passed to you this morning."

I open the to-do list and what I read off it makes me feel… scammed, to say the least. Pretty much everything I did today was part of my to-do list and it even includes being chased by the Guild!

"Planeptune's new guild agents need to be trained to make decisions on the go. I suggested that you should be their target," Histy smiles. "You always try to avoid work, so I had the trainees to patrol the areas where you frequent."

"The same thing happened in Lastation, actually," Nepgear continues the explanation. "Uni and Arc wants to train their sniper team, but no target is small and fast enough for them to train their accuracy at. Histoire's plan is bound to drive onee-chan away from Planeptune. You're fast and as long as you don't transform, you'll serve as an excellent target."

"T-then, what about Lowee?" I ask.

"Oh, that was mine. Atlus has been requesting that the goddesses run a physical check by running within her maze and escaping within the time limit," Saturn still maintains her mischievous smile. "Everyone else already did theirs. You're the only one left. I asked the twins to post a wanted picture and for Blanc to ambush you because you would not be willing to do that."

Ugh… I can't believe they're actually counting on me to refuse to do my work at all to ensure that I actually do it. Talk about a reverse psychology.

"You guys didn't make any plans in Leanbox?" I ask.

"Nope, because we don't need to," Saturn stands up and stretches. "The crazed fans over there are good enough to send you leaving the nation."

"I heard that fan clubs have formed, supporting the twins or the black sisters or us," Nepgear replies. "Oh, onee-chan, thanks for the parts. The reason why I never buy the capacitor is because I'm afraid the rabid fans might recognize me. Thank you for the hard work."

Everything I bought earlier that is intended for a bribe turns out to be souvenirs instead. Aaah! I really don't want to think about this anymore. I think I'll just go take a bath and sulk. I'm sure Noire will find out about this from Uni. This is going to be a huge embarrassment for me. I think… I should stop slacking altogether… yeah. It might be a good idea. Better than them trying to pull a reverse psychology on me and resulting in more embarrassment than necessary.

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**Hope you have a good read. The next (and currently final) chapter will feature Noire. There's no need to even guess anymore since she's the only goddess left. Farewell till next weekend.**


	8. Noire - Working Together

******Str1k3N01r here. **It's one week late, but here's the (currently) last chapter for this fic. Like I said earlier today, the amount of traffic this fic gets determines if I'll ever expand into the V Goddesses or even give some of my own characters a day in the limelight. ** Disclaimer: i only own OCs**

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**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

I slowly open my eyes as the morning rays enter my room. Wait a second… purple walls with d-pads… this isn't my room. I wanted to sit on the bed but something… or someone is holding me down. I look at my side and I see Neptune, hugging one of my arms as if it is a pillow. Jeez. For all of the good time she gave me last night, she's still a kid deep down. Sometimes I do wonder why I'm even in love with this… troublesome… pudding fiend who is always looking for sweets to devour. I brush her hair away from her face so that I can give her a proper good morning kiss before I pry her hands off my own.

It has been a while since I confessed that I love her. Right now as per Neptune's own suggestion, I start to commute to work. Nepgear and I work together to create a small network of teleporters that will allow Uni and I to remain in Planeptune unless something very urgent comes up. Despite the fact that the four of us are now family, Uni and I are still goddesses of Lastation and we do not want the four nation status quo to change for now. Oh, that's right. Uni confessed to Nepgear too, not so long before this.

During the previous month, it was Neptune who had to stay over at Lastation because we renovated the purple sisters' rooms in order to accommodate us. Neptune likes living in Lastation, though, since it gives her a change of pace. Ever since Uni confessed her feelings, she changes by a lot. She's significantly more focused and more motivated than ever. Perhaps it's to show Nepgear that she can be relied on since she's always reliable. Now that I think about it, so is Neptune, she readily does her own share of work. She's always willing to do anything so that I don't overexert myself, so she does her them according to my currently not-so-harsh deadlines. As long as she gets the work done I don't care/mind how she does it.

Today is a public holiday in both Planeptune and Lastation, so we have a free day ahead of us. Neptune says that we're going to spar first thing in the morning so I am not cooking until we're done with that, but I'm still going to the kitchen for an ice cube.. Nepgear and Uni are already in the bathroom, brushing their teeth. Right now, I need to wake Neptune up, though. She's such a heavy sleeper. Normally I will let her off easy, but not today. It's not good to eat before you exercise so I make Neptune sit on her bed, still snoozing, before I casually pull the back of her pyjamas and dropped the ice cube inside.

"Nep!"

That shocked reaction from her is very priceless, although she nearly hits my head again today. She knows I just gave her a rude awakening, so she glares at me with the best puppy eyes she can manage. Although she's been using that too many times that it has begun to lose its usual effectiveness on me.

"Noire, how cruel! You know growing girls like me deserve my beauty sleep!" she protests.

"Come on, you promised me that you're up for morning sparring with our sisters at the training room. Let's go."

"Don't do that next time."

"I won't if you wake up on time."

With that, we head downstairs to join Nepgear and Uni in the training room for some sparring. Our younger sisters have started earlier than us since they woke up earlier than Neptune, so we stand by the sidelines and watch them try to overpower each other. Uni is learning very quickly to watch out for any signs of Nepgear's attacks, but so does Nepgear. The two are neither showing signs of giving up nor giving in.

Due to our differing combat styles, it is difficult to teach Uni anything other than unarmed combat. Thankfully, one of my best soldiers knows close-combat gun fighting, so she teaches Uni some moves and let Uni modify it on her own to match her own gun style.

As for Neptune and I, the two of us are constantly sparring whenever we… or rather I have time to spare. Today will mark the first time we will spar each other's sisters, though. A goddess never trains another nation's candidate because we can't really sync well with anyone outside the family, with exception of Vert. However, Nepgear and Uni have the 'Stark Vita' coupling skill while Neptune and I have the 'Assault Combination' coupling skill, I don't see I don't see Neptune and Uni or Nepgear and I developing a coupling skill as an impossible task, though it might take a long time.

After struggling for a good while, Uni kicks Nepgear away before firing a fragmentation round at a range where dodging it completely is impossible. Taking the full brunt of the attack drops Nepgear's Hit Points to zero and she is knocked backwards, skidding across the ground for a distance before she stands up slowly. The weapons conjured by the training module then vanish as Uni runs to Nepgear's side and helps her to stand up.

"Ow… that hurts, Uni-chan."

"Sorry. I'll treat you to some shaved ice later, okay?"

"Sure."

Our sisters sit by the sidelines as the two of us take the stage. After setting the training room to a beach area, we clash as usual. This time, I'm determined to walk away as the winner, so we're going all out without transforming. As per usual, Neptune sends me flying after a couple of hits. She really cannot control that brute strength of hers, so I twisted in mid air and recovered quickly enough to use a nearby log as a spring board and launch myself back at her with my rapier ready for another clash. She parries my strike and soon enough we're back to square one, with her just smashing her way through and me unwilling to give her any opening to do that whatsoever. After a few minutes without any obvious outcome, I delivered a powerful kick at her heel and knock her off her feet before pointing my rapier at the base of her neck.

"You got me… not!" Neptune remarks before she kicks my leg as well, knocking me off balance. Thankfully, I was half expecting that and manage to recover. I charge at Neptune once again, but she dodges by hopping backwards. After her third dodge, she tries to hit me with a backhanded sword swing, but I parried that and counterattacked immediately. Since Neptune's dress is loose, all that my rapier hit is just her jacket and it pins her on the wall as she tries to take the sword out. She has no other way out of this while I pulled out my memento, a revolver, out of its holster and fired a single bullet at Neptune's head. The moment the digital bullet hits Neptune, dropping her HP to zero, the simulator ends and the weapons we're using disappear.

"You really got me!" Neptune looks at me with her usual 'fake tears', as Saturn calls them, which she often uses to guilt trip me. It did work for the past few times she used it on me, but you know, the more often you use it the less effective it will be.

"I thought I warned you that I won't be holding back?" I ask.

"You never said anything about bringing a gun to our sparring match!" she protests and grumbles a little.

"I gave you a gun a few days after we announced our relationship to our sisters," I sigh. "It's your fault for not updating the module to give you the handgun even during sparring practises like this."

The four of us leave the training room to take a bath before Nepgear and I start making today's breakfast. Today, we'll be having Lowee-style breakfast of rice, some miso soup, fried chicken, steamed fish and some green tea flavoured cold soba noodles and a small cup of sweetened soy sauce. Neptune initially wants to help but Nepgear says she doesn't need to. She pouts and sits on the table next to Uni, who joins her after she helps to get the rice cooker ready. Nepgear gave Histoire some breakfast before she left for Planeptune's Guild HQ.

After the cooking is done, Nepgear and I join our sisters at the table and start eating. I'm not sure what Nepgear and Uni are planning, but Neptune and I will be going on around Planeptune today before spending the rest of the day back in our room. I actually want to go on a date, but she insists on doing this instead. She also says that since I'll be living in Planeptune, her people will need to know that Black Heart is in town so that they won't be that surprised if they see me often.

**[Planeptune – Downtown]**

It feels awkward touring Planeptune with Neptune… but I guess it's because the only place I visited was the hospital and that was a long time ago. Everyone is so formal on me and I have to tell them that I'm fine with them calling me the way they call Neptune. After all, soon we will be sharing the spot as the patron goddesses of the two nations. While we're here, Neptune also listens to the concerns and suggestions of her citizens, even though this is supposed to be a public holiday. She takes notes and after saying that she'll think about it, we leave to our next destination.

Our first destination is the Ramen restaurant, Hakagure. Neptune speaks so highly about the restaurant that it makes me really want to see if they live up to my high standards. I pretty much order the same food as Neptune, although mine doesn't come with all the extra toppings she orders. She says it's fine since she intends to share them anyway. While we wait for our food, the two of us discuss our schedule and Neptune agrees with me working overtime, although any overtime work must be done from Planeptune.

"Don't worry about me," Neptune tries to reassure my worries. "I'll be fine. I won't slack as much, I promise. I'm more worried about you pulling overtime behind my back, given your love for work."

"Alright, I'll promise too. I won't overwork myself and any overtime I want to do will be done when you're around," I smile.

"Don't forget to promise not to ignore me," she pouts, causing me to smile. Sometimes I wonder where she draws her energy from.

"Alright, I promise," I say before we link our right hand's little finger together. "Pinky swear."

"Deal," she smiles.

Our meal arrives and the smell of the soup already amazes me. Neptune already digs in as I have expected, although she isn't eating like someone who is starving and is actually going through her noodles like a normal person, savouring every bite of the food she ordered. I finally start on my food and it does meet my high expectations. Neptune later tells me who recommended this place to Nepgear and how she starts coming here for their noodles ever since that day.

After lunch, we resume our little tour around Planeptune, stopping over at the video arcade and bumping into Vert, who is enjoying herself at one of the machines trying to win one of the prizes inside it. It is a new game that is just released in Planeptune a few days ago. Given her gaming skills, I'm not surprised if she manages to win it in a few attempts, therefore saving her quite a number of credits that she will otherwise spend on the game.

As tea time approaches, we head to another destination: the cake shop that Nepgear took Uni to when Neptune and my sister swapped positions. Neptune always said how the cake the shop sells is very delicious and I can't wait to taste how good it is. Neptune ordered two slices, how odd given her ability to devour any kind of sweet stuff within seconds. Combined with the inability for us to get overweight, Nep is sure enjoying every single moment she has. Maybe I should learn to be like that once in a while. Nowadays, she tries to act like a real elder sister to Nepgear (and even Uni), although she still does it Nep-style.

"They said that even the true goddess will come down from Celestia just for a taste," I say as I look at the slice of cake that Neptune orders for me. "Let's see just how good it is."

One small bite and I can already feel its celestial flavour. It's no wonder that Neptune often buys her bread and cakes from this store. This is much better than the cakes Lastation offers. Hmm… this got me thinking about work a little. Wait me, stop! Stop! This is break and you're on a date with Neptune! Stop thinking about work and enjoy today to the fullest!

After lunch is spent following Neptune as she leads the way around her nation, showing me where the important stuff takes place and also introducing me to people she knows personally. Come to think of it… during my time as the goddess of Lastation, I had never interacted with the public and remained within the basilicom almost all the time. My people know who Black Heart is, but they don't know what I look like. Neptune, on the other hand, her human form and her tendency to skip her duties actually helps her mingle with the citizens of her nation. In fact, they give her respect and adoration, and yet they didn't treat her like their goddess. More like… a family or something. She's very close to her people's hearts.

The last place we visit is the park where our friend, Saturn, landed in our dimension as a fallen star. Planeptune's old basilicom still stood there among the ruins, although it is badly damaged now and Neptune is far too lazy to even order someone to fix it. Or is she?

"Nope. Didn't fix it because of that," Neptune smiles. "It is proof that she came, to this place, to give us a second chance at getting rid of that false goddess."

"Still… I wonder… goddesses don't exactly appear out of nowhere," I voice my thoughts. "She has to come from somewhere. Why doesn't she want to go home?"

"She tells me this place makes her feel at home," Neptune says. "Well, whatever works for her I suppose. We can drag a horsebird to the river but we can't force it to drink anyway, if we can actually tame those things anyway."

So far the civillians' response to my presence in Planeptune has been positive, which is good. I was expecting them to be against having me around, but so far they agreed to address me in the way they address Neptune. Some of them even tell me to take care of Neptune because of how she can be a little bit irresponsible sometimes. I'm both surprised and embarrassed that my quest for perfection actually reaches to the ears of Planeptune citizens as well, although they hold me in high regard.

Still, there's another problem… when and how should Neptune and I announce that we will be getting married soon? Blanc and Vert already know about this, so our plan will be to announce the news simultaneously. After that, what's next? What happens to Lastation and Planeptune now that their respective goddesses are in love? Do the nations get merged too or stay apart but closely allied? If merging occurs, who emerges on top?

It's kinda funny, how Neptune's face often tells me which option I need to pick most of the time. I'll just keep quiet on this matter for now and focus on the present, like she always tells me to. Neptune stretches and yawns a little as it approaches dinner time and we head back to the basilicom. Along the way, we encounter a familiar looking young lady clad in a nurse uniform who recognizes me. She passes me a locket, which shows a picture of me and someone who looks similar to her also dressed in a nurse uniform.

"You're… her daughter?" I ask her.

"Yes. My mother was just a teenage graduate of Planeptune's nursing school when you visited the ward she was in charge of, Lady Black Heart," she smiles widely. "Mother always talked about how you would come and visit the patient often."

"I see. How fares your mother?" I ask.

"She's fine, but she's very happy that she met you in person," she smiles before she looks at her watch. "I wish I could stay and chat, but duty calls."

With that, she bows and leaves. Neptune wonders who she was, so I explained to her about the nurse in charge of Melanie's ward.

"Oh, that's right! No wonder she looks familiar."

**[Planeptune – Basilicom]**

We return to the basilicom to find Uni and Nepgear at the shooting range firing at the moving holographic targets using their practise guns. After watching their training, the four of us head to the bathroom.

"Yeah… the water's perfect," Uni sighs in content as she steps in the waters. Neptune just recently renovated the bathroom as well, so that the tub can accommodate more than just herself and Nepgear. "So, onee-chan, how did your day go?"

"It's normal, more or less. I get to know the citizens of Planeptune and at the very least make them more familiar with my presence. After all, normally I head straight over here incognito," I reply as Neptune scoots over to sit beside me.

"Hearts and mind, Noire. Hearts and minds," Neptune says while she moves around and eventually settles on my lap, leaning at me. "The reason why Planeptune always takes two steps for every one Lastation takes is because while the people know that you are their goddess, they do not know if you really care about the nation and her people or it is just your duty to do so."

"Yeah. That's right. I've totally forgotten about that," I smile and hug her tightly. "Thank you for opening my eyes."

"It's no big deal."

"Onee-chan likes mingling with others," Nepgear states. "Noire-san, sometimes hanging out with your subordinates will allow you to address the problem directly instead of just listening from reports."

I give it a little thought and I agree. Maybe I should change my work ethic like Neptune always says. Addressing problems directly, mingling with the citizens and the army instead of dealing with the problems based on just reports from the Basilicom officials and Arc's words alone. So deep down within that work hating mentality of Neptune's she's rather mature, huh…

"You see, Uni? That's why I often said that even though onee-chan dumps a lot of things on me, she can be counted on to get the job done if I can't," Nepgear chats with my sister.

"Yes, I get it," Uni sighs a little. "Now if only you let me help you out. I can be as responsible… no, more responsible than that elder sister of yours."

"Hahaha."

"Ahh, young love. Ain't it cute?" Neptune uses the opportunity to tease our younger sisters.

We exit the tub before our skin gets all pruny and after rinsing ourselves clean of soap and shampoo, we leave the bathroom and bump into Histoire. She has just returned from the guild, although she's busy and won't be joining us for dinner. I remember when the four of us announced our relationship to her a few months ago. She was extremely shocked and needed some time to process the revelation before finally sighing and letting us do what we want.

"Histoire, may I have a moment of your time?" I ask.

"What is it?" she hovers near me.

"Okay girls, it seems my wifey has something to discuss with Histy. Let's head to the kitchen and wait," Neptune brings our sisters away. When I'm sure that they can't hear us anymore, I speak up.

"It's about me and Neptune. I seek your council on what we should do to our respective nations. We want to be together, but at the same time, we don't want to break the four nations status quo that Gamindustri has for a very long time."

"Give me three minutes to think about it," Histoire says before she closes her eyes. She remains silent for the three minutes before she nods. "I think I've find a possible solution."

"What is it?"

"I suggest that you and Neptune make your laws similar or give your citizens dual citizenship," Histoire suggests. "Oh and, don't forget that you have been using the teleporters for quite some time. Don't change that because the people of Lastation will still need you to be present. I'm sure Neptune understands that, right?"

"Thanks. It really eases my mind," I smile at the book sized fairy before she continues on her way. There are rumours floating around that the true goddess created her together with Gamindustri, so she's the best oracle there is. Sometimes I wish Histoire is my oracle instead of Kei. Not that Kei can't do what I expect her to be able do, but sometimes Kei just refuses to see anything besides profits and losses. She even expresses suspicion when Saturn comes over to help out.

After a simple dinner, the four of us returns to our respective rooms to unwind for the rest of the day. The two of us lay on the new king size bed that I installed in Neptune's room as we discuss on what we will do tomorrow. I'm surprised that she's willing to listen and even give suggestions to what I have in mind for both Planeptune and Lastation. Anything to please me huh? She's very cute in that regards.

"Neptune, are you listening?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Okay, so here's the plan for what happens after we announce our relationship to the world," I begin explaining. "First of all, the ID cards of our citizens are to be turned in and exchanged for a new one."

"Why so? Can't they just keep their normal ID cards?" she asks.

"It's to show that any citizen of Planeptune is also a citizen of Lastation. Our rules might be slightly different, but at the very least, this will help them move from your nation to mine or vice versa with ease."

"I can see your point… although it would be easier to just issue another ID card or something," Neptune starts thinking.

"The less they have to carry the better," I respond, with Neptune nodding in agreement. "We'll give them one month to exchange them for free. Anything beyond that will receive a minor penalty."

"Hmm… I doubt we'll even need a month with my technology and your expertise," Neptune says before she presses the buttons on the custom made tablet that Nepgear gives us a few days after we tell her that we're engaged. "What about our shares?"

"Same rules apply. We can always play tug of war with each other, but no draining from other nations unless something happens," I explain.

"So… does this mean that you're going back to Lastation again?" Neptune gives me the usual puppy eyes. "Does that mean we're going to be separated again?"

"No silly," I flicked her forehead, causing her to wince. "I'm staying here and working in Lastation, just like what I have been doing."

With that she smiles and hugs me as the two of us just lie on the bed, with Neptune on top of me rubbing her face on my breasts. It tickles, but I only hug her back. The advantage of being small, I guess.

"Ne ne… Noire?" Neptune suddenly speaks just as I get comfortable. "I always thought that you'd never fall for me… that all my waiting was pointless because I didn't think you'd ever return my feelings. Why?"

"Eh?" I am… surprised that she actually asks this question, to be honest. It is the last thing that I expect coming out of her mouth.

"I'm lazy. I can be very unmotivated. I only work when I really need to prevent Gear from overworking," Neptune says, sitting on my stomach. "I'm curious. I loved you ever since the first time we met, but what exactly do you see in me?"

"You… remind me of a friend," I gently place my right hand on her left cheek. "At least initially, I treated you like a second chance in life to be with her. That's how you piqued my interest. After that, I started to pay more and more attention to you. You're the only one that actively challenges me and… I just can't bring myself to hit you, you know."

Neptune's facial expression changes from doubt into joy as I go on and describe what it is about her that makes me happy. To be honest… everything about her makes me happy one way or another. Her smile, her attitude, the way she can change me from moody to happy within seconds, she looks after me in her own way, encourages me to take short breaks and everything despite me thinking that I'm not good enough… not… perfect enough for her. What that breaks my heart most was when I have to push her away because she gets too close and I'm afraid of losing myself in front of her. Of course, I'm sure she felt the same way too back then.

"Yeah, that was mean," Neptune pouts. "I was only trying to show you that I want you and you should just say the three magic words… but you never respond the way I want you too."

"I'm sorry, but that's just the way I am," I shake my head a little. "I'm unable to put my feelings into words proper and often act the opposite way that I want to."

"Good thing I pressured you to confess then," she smirks before she plops on me again. "If I didn't, we'll never be together like we are now."

"That's true," I smile and pat this energetic pudding lover as we snuggle with each other on the bed. Neptune always hugs me automatically whenever we're sleeping and Nepgear already explained to me that her older sister can be rather clingy and needy. A price I'm willing to pay, I suppose. We remain still with nothing but the sound of our breath as we lie on bed in each other's embrace.

"Hey, Noire…"

"What is it?"

"I'm starving."

I sigh when I hear her say that word. We just had dinner not so long ago and she's already starving? Just how much can she force down her stomach anyway? To respond to that statement, I pinch and pull her cheeks slowly. Her reaction as I go further and further is so adorable, and yet she does not do anything other than protesting. After a while, I let go and allow her to rub her cheeks.

"I was kidding! Kidding!" she says.

"Next time, don't do that with a straight face. It isn't funny," I reply.

Neptune then gets off me and exits the room after telling me to stay put. I wonder what she wants this time. She returns with two cups of what that looks like the mango pudding that Saturn served during our last Goddess meeting a month ago. They look freshly made, so I conclude that Nepgear must have gotten the recipe off that stoic goddess somehow. I still find Saturn's quietness rather intimidating sometimes, although whenever she's around the candidates, she seems much more open. I wonder why.

"Let's have our dessert," she smiles as she places both cups on the table by the balcony.

"Just a minute, Nep. Something's missing," I get up slowly from the comfortable bed.

Neptune looks at the two cups of pudding while thinking on what I just said. After a few minutes, she shakes her head and sighs in defeat before she closes her eyes and pouts.

"What is it that I forgot?" she asks. "I know I miss something but I just cannot recall."

"Remember when Saturn served it to us back a month ago?" I ask again. Seeing that she's unable to recall it at all, I decide to make her remember, the irritating way. "You don't remember? I thought you were good at anything related to snacks, sweets and dessert. I guess I was wrong about you."

In a flash of light, Purple Heart sits in the place where Neptune was and she's still in her thinking mode. She's clearly frustrated that she cannot remember what the missing item is. As she sits down there wondering, I transform as well and head towards the kitchen, hovering to prevent Neptune from noticing that I have left the room. When I reach the kitchen, I check the fridge to find the cup that is filled with the slightly sweetened condensed milk that is the missing item that we need for our dessert. I know that it is not really necessary and the pudding itself is already good without the need for the milk sauce, but it is just not the same when we eat them without it. I return to our room and revert back to my human form before entering.

"This is frustrating!" Neptune sighs in defeat as she reverts as well.

"It's the condensed milk sauce," I say as I place the small cup in front of her, causing her bright smile to return almost immediately.

"Thanks," she says while pulling me into a tight hug as she rubs her face on my belly. I sit next to her before I pour the small cup of sauce into both of our puddings. I am about to eat a spoonful of the pudding before, as usual, Neptune already dives towards my spoon to help herself. "Hey!"

"Feed me," Neptune says after she finishes swallowing whatever that was on my spoon.

"Okay," I smile softly as I take another spoonful and put it in her mouth as she smiles. My arm moves automatically on its own and continuously feed Neptune until…

"Ouch!"

Apparently, Neptune has not opened her mouth yet, but since I didn't notice, I hit the spoon against her mouth and she's now complaining about how painful her lower lip is, even as she eats what the spoon offers.

"It hurts! It hurts!" she continues complaining after she swallows.

"I'm sorry Neptune," I lean forward and kiss the part where I hit her with the spoon. "There. Are you alright?"

"Why aren't you looking?!"

"I said I'm sorry! My arm moved automatically because I'm lost in my thoughts thinking how cute you are."

Neptune continues pouting until I finish feeding her. After that, she takes a large helping of the pudding in her own cup and eat it herself… at least that's what I thought she will do. She then kneels on her chair and kisses me before passing me the pudding. That catches me off guard, and I transform without warning, whatsoever.

"Now we're even," she says before scooping up another spoonful and giving it to me to eat. After taking a bite, I revert back and tell my beating heart to calm down and just enjoy the evening.

We finish eating our pudding before the evening breeze in Planeptune gets even colder because it is almost winter, so we head back from the balcony to our room. I close the door that leads to the balcony as Neptune turns on the heater and set it to mid-autumn temperature. After that, I change to my sleepwear as Neptune takes off her one-piece dress and short jacket off, sleeping in only her undergarments. We snuggle underneath the covers before Neptune inches to my side and hugs my body once again, so I place my left arm on her shoulder as I sigh in content. It's getting late and we should sleep soon because I need to wake up early tomorrow. I reach for the remote and turns off the lights after setting my alarm clock.

"Goodnight, Noire."

"Goodnight to you too."

After sharing one last kiss for the day, both of us slowly drifts into sleep.

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**I hope you enjoy my tales. I don't know if i'm ever going to continue writing oneshots or go back to finishing my other fics. But I can tell you that if you're reading this, you should look forward to my other works that are currently in progress. If I think this fic's traffic is good enough, I'll resume writing this fic. If not... well, you know the deal. Str1k3N01r out.**


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